For America's 250th anniversary, we ask the question the founders never finished answering: what does the world's oldest experiment owe the rest of the world?
On July 4, 2026, the United States turns 250. The semiquincentennial arrives at a moment when the questions raised in Philadelphia in 1776 — about self-government, individual rights, and a nation's place in the world — feel less settled than they have in generations.
This year's conference asks delegates to debate three of the questions that have followed America from its founding to the present: how power should be checked, how rights should be expanded, and how a republic should conduct itself among other nations. Each of our three committees places these questions in a different historical and contemporary frame.
You will not be debating in 1776. You will be debating in 2026, with two and a half centuries of evidence in front of you, and the next twenty-five years still to write.
Three committees, each tracing a thread of the American experiment across 250 years and into the world beyond. Delegates may rank their committee preferences during registration.
Times subject to revision.
The student leaders chairing the 2026 conference, organized by committee.
Our conference will take place in the Arillaga Student Center. For parking, please park in the parking garage located on Kamoku Street.