July 4, 2026, will mark the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. 

Dr. Allen Mendenhall, Associate Dean and Grady Rosier Professor in The Sorrell College of Business at Troy University, spoke to the Pike County Republican Women about the historical significance of the event and what it means for the future of the United States. 

Mendenhall al is currently a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a visiting fellow at the Madden Center for Value Creation at Florida Atlantic University. He will transition in May to a full-time role at the Heritage Foundation.

Mendenhall said it wasn’t one specific event that led to the Declaration of Independence, but rather a series of events and changing views of government that led to the declaration and later the American Revolution.  

“So the 13 colonies have existed in relative autonomy for about 150 years. And the British need to pay off their war debt under the French and Indian War,” Mendenhall said. “And so they started imposing taxes on the colonists, starting with the Stamp Act in 1765, then the Townsend Act, which taxed tea and paper and glass, then the Tea Act itself in 1773. That’s the one that causes the Boston Tea Party. 

“In response to that, the British passed the Intolerable Acts, which basically deprive Massachusetts of self-governance and sort of closes Boston Harbor so that no trade can occur. Well, this is infuriating to the colonists because imagine you live under a government where you don’t get to vote for somebody who represents you in Parliament or in whatever the legislative branch is. And people are imposing taxes on you, but you can’t vote them out. So this is where that phrase, no taxation without representation, comes from. You can’t tax us if we have no consent to who is governing us. This is the era of the Enlightenment, as I say, in which the notion of consent of the governed is emerging.” 

Mendenhall said the Declaration of Independence focuses on two key points that form the basis of the document. The first, he said, was Natural Law which suggests there is a moral code that applies to all people, this moral code is part of human nature and Natural Law provides people a framework for right and wrong. The second was equality. The framers of the Deceleration of Independence believed equality was the inherent worth of human beings. 

Mendenhall said the declaration includes a list of grievances against British rule and the framing of the document draws influence from the Magna Carta, the English Petition of Rights, and the English Bill of Rights.

Mendenhall said the grievances were a critical part of the Declaration of Independence because Social Contract Theory was beginning to emerge and it explored concepts of the consent of the governed.  

He said the list of grievances set forth provided a grounds for the colonists to legally take action because the British government was exercising policies it had no authority to implement. As a result, the colonists believed they had the legal authority to restore the government to the form they had lived under for more than 150 years. 

Mendenhall said the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 2, 1776, but was not officially adopted until July 4, 1776. 

He said as we approach the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, it’s important to look back on history and remember who we are as a nation. 

“We’ve all probably known someone who has suffered from a horrible, horrible disease. It’s Alzheimer’s disease,” Mendenhall said. “We’ve known people, my grandmother had it, and by the end she didn’t even know who she was. It’s a terrible thing. 

“But what we can do now at the 250th is ensure as a political body that we don’t suffer from this kind of disease. People say, why is it important to celebrate the 250th? Well, have you met someone with Alzheimer’s and they forget who they are? And they’re just an empty vessel? It’s sad. And they can’t take care of themselves. And they don’t know the people they love anymore. It’s a horrible thing. 

“And what a horrible thing that would be for our country to suffer from self-imposed Alzheimer’s. To tear down all of the statues of people because they didn’t live up to standards that would have been impossible for them to live up to in their day. That in fact they set in motion all the activity necessary to get us to where we are today. If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be who we are today. 

“And it would be terrible for us to forget that. And unlike Alzheimer’s that happens to human beings as a sickness, this is one we have an antidote for. It’s reading. It’s studying. We can do something about it. We don’t have to suffer from it. We have the agency. And so my prayer and hope is that in the 250th anniversary we do seek to recover who we are. That we remember who we are. Because it’s important not just to our country, but to the entire human species.”