1775 — 2033 · The whole window
It isn't one day. It's a window that runs from 2025 to 2033 — and here is every date in it.
Almost everyone plans for one date. July 4, 2026 is the centerpiece, and it has already passed. The 250th anniversary is not over — it runs from the 250th of Lexington and Concord in April 2025 to the 250th of the Treaty of Paris in September 2033, and there is a 250th worth marking in almost every year between now and then.
This page is the short version.
| Date | 250th of | Status as of August 13, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| April 19, 2025 | Lexington and Concord | Observed |
| June 14, 2025 | Founding of the Continental Army | Observed |
| July 4, 2026 | Adoption of the Declaration | Observed |
| December 26, 2026 | Battle of Trenton | Upcoming |
| January 3, 2027 | Battle of Princeton | Upcoming |
| October 17, 2027 | Surrender at Saratoga | Upcoming |
| October 19, 2031 | Surrender at Yorktown | Upcoming |
| September 3, 2033 | Treaty of Paris signed | Upcoming |
On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted to separate from Great Britain. On July 4 it approved the final wording and ordered it printed. July 4 marks the day the text was adopted — the argument, not the vote and not the signing. That is why John Adams thought the country would celebrate the second of July. Sources: National Archives, "Declaration of Independence"; Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, vol. 5.
Washington crossed the Delaware on the night of December 25–26, 1776, and took the Hessian garrison at Trenton in a morning action. Nine days later he slipped around the British force sent to trap him and won again at Princeton. These two weeks are the reason there was still an army in 1777. Sources: National Park Service, Washington Crossing and Princeton Battlefield; Library of Congress, George Washington Papers.
British General John Burgoyne surrendered his army near Saratoga, New York, on October 17, 1777. This is the hinge: the loss of an entire British army persuaded France the Americans could win, and the formal alliance followed in February 1778. Sources: National Park Service, Saratoga National Historical Park; Yale Avalon Project, Treaty of Alliance with France, February 6, 1778.
After a siege by combined American and French forces, with a French fleet holding the Chesapeake, Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781. This is the end of major fighting in North America — not the end of the war. Sources: National Park Service, Yorktown Battlefield; Library of Congress, Articles of Capitulation, October 19, 1781.
American and British commissioners signed the definitive treaty on September 3, 1783. Britain recognized the United States as free and independent; the Confederation Congress ratified on January 14, 1784. Seven years and two months separate independence declared from independence acknowledged. Sources: National Archives, Milestone Documents, Treaty of Paris (1783); Yale Avalon Project, "Treaty of Paris, 1783."
Two hundred and fifty years is not a round number chosen for a party. It is the distance between an argument written by men who expected to be hanged for it and a country that is still arguing over what that document requires. The window from 1775 to 1783 is the reminder that the founding was not a day of good news — it was eight years of it being unclear whether any of it would hold. Marking the whole window, rather than one afternoon, is the difference between a celebration and a memory.
Each entry names two independent sources — a federal record-keeping body plus a second primary-document source. Where sources disagree on a detail, the primary document wins and the disagreement is stated rather than smoothed over. Every fact carries a visible last-verified date, because a fact sheet without one is asking you to take its word for it.
Last verified: August 13, 2026.
Provided for general historical and educational interest. Event schedules published by any commission or municipality should be confirmed with that body directly.