As the nation commemorates its 250th anniversary, communities across the country intend to re-declare the truths the Founding Fathers deemed to be self-evident — "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
At least three public readings or presentations of the Declaration of Independence are planned locally.
- July 2 — 1 p.m. Hamilton County Courthouse
- July 4 — 9:30 a.m. Seasongood Pavilion in Eden Park
- July 11 — 11 a.m. Cincinnati Museum Center
America 250-Ohio is also coordinating statewide public readings at 6 p.m. on July 8.
The document itself isn't that long and doesn't take much time. NPR hosts had a long tradition of reciting the document. It takes 10 minutes or less.
Why July 2?
Hamilton County's America 250-Ohio committee kicks off local commemorations on July 2 with a ceremonial raising of the America 250-Ohio Community flag in front of the courthouse and a public reading of the Declaration of Independence.
The committee notes John Adams thought July 2 would be the day people would celebrate American Independence as it was the day it the Continental Congress voted for it.
According to the National Constitution Center, "Officially, the Continental Congress declared its freedom from Great Britain on July 2, 1776, when it voted to approve a resolution submitted by delegate Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, declaring 'That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.' "
Why July 4?
After the vote by the Continental Congress, a document had to be drafted to alert the people. It took two days for all the parties involved to agree on the final language. The Congress approved the actual Declaration of Independence document on July 4, and ordered it be sent to a printer named John Dunlap.
Since the document was signed on July 4, 1776, that's the date that was printed on the roughly 200 copies of the "Dunlap Broadside" he created. Twenty-six copies remain today, according to the National Constitution Center.
The July 4, 2026, reading at Seasongood Pavilion is organized by the July Fourth Project.
"It's reviving a practice that was very common in this part of the country every year on the Fourth of July in the 19th century — every community in America, they read the Declaration of Independence," says organizer Edward Schoelwer.
He says he hopes people listening to the recitations will leave with a sense that they're part of something larger than themselves. He also points out that it has served as a model for others to declare their independence as well.
"When the Haitians started their revolution, they wrote their own declaration of independence. When the suffragists — Katie Stanton and Lucretia Mott — when they gathered, they wrote the Declaration of Sentiments to talk about women's equality... It served as the model for many other countries that were trying to loosen the bonds of colonialism, and also this sort of summary of what people believed in, this manifesto of sorts, was a model for the Declaration of Human Rights," he says.
"People need to care about this because we live in a democracy, and the democracy only works if you're willing to participate, and there are so many people that don't vote, they don't participate in civic life, because they don't think it matters, and it does matter. Everybody's participation is critical."
Twenty people, including local civic, business and community leaders, will take turns reading the Declaration of Independence on July 4. There also will be musical selections and a dramatic reading of a 1976 essay titled "What Is an American?" by the late Winifred Wuennemann Bruening of Price Hill.
Why July 8?
The America 250-Ohio committee is encouraging communities across the state to gather on July 8 to honor the first public reading of the document in 1776.
Colonel John Nixon of Philadelphia read the Declaration of Independence to the public for the first time on what the city now calls Independence Square on July 8, 1776.
The statewide coordinated reading is set for 6 p.m.
Why July 9 and 11?
Well, nothing special really, but those are two important dates for the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and the Cincinnati Museum Center.
The two are partnering for a dramatic reading by actors from the cast of Much Ado About Nothing on July 11 at 11 a.m. in the Rotunda.
"We will also have costumed interpreters throughout the Cincinnati History Museum, including on the Public Landing as museum education staff discuss life in early Cincinnati on the western edge of the new nation," Cody Hefner, vice president of marketing and communications, tells WVXU. "Our food education team will be baking fresh apple pie and discussing how the flaky treat became such a symbol of the country."
July 9 is another important date for a document at the Cincinnati Museum Center.
The museum is displaying its own copy of the Declaration of Independence to commemorate the semiquincentennial.
The museum's copy is known as the Holt broadside printing. It was made by New York printer John Holt on July 9, 1776. Of the 500 copies made by Holt, only five are known to still exist and have been authenticated.
A museum spokesman tells WVXU the document is almost never removed from storage and this will be just the second time it's ever been displayed. It was first removed from the vault, briefly, for an exhibit in 2015.
The exhibit opens July 3.
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