A Community Project
Celebrating 250 Years
of American Promises
On this anniversary of America's quincentennial, join us in sharing your promise of pride and promise repair.
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A Community Project
On this anniversary of America's quincentennial, join us in sharing your promise of pride and promise repair.
About the Project
In 2026, America turns 250. This community project is a celebration of all that we are proud of and all that we wish to improve upon for the next 250 years.
The 250 American Promise is two simple questions: What is an American source of Pride? And, What is an American mistake you wish to fix?
We are collecting these answers — your promises — in letters, photos, audio and video recordings and sharing them nationwide.
This project is inspired by real events: the actions one Republican president made in 1976, on America's Bicentennial, to mend the actions one Democratic president made in 1942. Showing that just as we harm, we can attempt to heal.
Gallery
In Their Words
We are commemorating the anniversary dates of many great events in American history. An honest reckoning, however, must include a recognition of our national mistakes as well as our national achievements. Learning from our mistakes is not pleasant, but as a great philosopher once admonished, we must do so if we want to avoid repeating them.
This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected.
The Origin Story
During America's Bicentennial year of 1976, Republican President Gerald Ford issued a proclamation that both celebrated America's history and offered atonement for one of its darkest chapters — the forced removal and incarceration of more than 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry (most of whom were citizens), which happened under Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt in 1942.
With this public apology, Gerald Ford recognized the power of repair — that we can go back to a moment that doesn't feel good, take responsibility, reconnect, and make a plan going forward to become a stronger unit. America was born as "an improbable experiment in democracy." But, as President Obama once said, "generation after generation [America] has shown that it can always be perfected."
Recognizing America's imperfections and striving to correct them are essential to its identity.
On this anniversary of America's quincentennial, we once again have much to be proud of and plenty of repair ahead. Join in a new American Promise that celebrates this country and the liberty and justice of all Americans.
In this Bicentennial Year, we are commemorating the anniversary dates of many great events in American history. An honest reckoning, however, must include a recognition of our national mistakes as well as our national achievements. Learning from our mistakes is not pleasant, but as a great philosopher once admonished, we must do so if we want to avoid repeating them.— Proclamation 4417, An American Promise · Gerald Ford, 1976
Resources
Use these free resources to bring the 250 American Promises project to your community.
The official 250 American Promises badge in scalable vector format. Perfect for print and digital.
Colors, fonts, logo usage rules, and tone-of-voice guidance for community contributors and partners.
Print-ready poster to promote local 250 American Promises events in your community. (Coming soon)
Ready-to-share graphics sized for Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Use the hashtag #250Promises.