CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Seventy-four new American citizens from 36 countries were sworn in at the 64th annual Monticello Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony on Saturday.

“I am deeply honored to be standing alongside so many people whose unique journeys have led them to this moment,” said an Ecuadorian woman who became a new citizen, one of eight naturalized citizens who spoke Saturday.

She didn’t state her name, but said, “Celebrating this milestone together as America marks its 250th anniversary makes the day even more special.”

“I came to the United State from Ecuador during the global pandemic seeking the opportunities and to unite with the love of my life,” she said. “Starting over meant adapting to a new culture, navigating life in a second language and building a new life. I move to Charlottesville because of love, but little did I know that I would find so much more in a welcoming community filled with kindness, support, and overwhelming generosity.”

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger was the keynote speaker.

“You have chosen to become Americans,” she said. “And as you inspire all of us here today I would challenge everyone present to learn from your example. It’s choosing to believe in our founding ideals, it’s knowing that our founding ideals are just that… ideals dependent on us, all of us, making them real,” the Governor said. “It’s also smiling at someone as you walk down the street, it’s checking on your neighbor during a heat wave, it’s reminding your friends to register to vote, it’s the straightforward idea that if you see a wrong that you take it upon yourself as an American to make it a right.”

She said in Virginia, the nation’s founders “believed in what could be.”

“Two hundred and fifty years later, you all are making the same choice that our founders once did, you are choosing to believe in the ideals of liberty, justice, and self-governance… you are choosing the United States of America,” Gov. Spanberger said. “And each of you, those new Americans here, you have seen something in this country so powerful, that you have chosen to make our country your home. Choosing to come here for adventure, for love, for an education, to pursue a dream that may only be possible in America. Choosing to come here for survival, second chances, or to escape tyranny in pursuit of a place where ideals and principles are what unite us.”

Other immigrants talked about their choice to become Americans.

One, who did not state his name, said his introduction to the United States was at 18-years old, driving across the border on an old school bus from Canada going to a training camp for world championships in the sport of rowing.

“I’ve been coming back on many occasions, some longer, some shorter, but eventually I came back and not only did I fall in love with America, but I fell in love in America with my wife and son who made me decide to stay,” he said.

The man acknowledged friends who were there attending the ceremony, including veterans of military service and law enforcement.

His voice cracking with emotion, he said, “When they insisted to be here today, that’s when you realize what it truly means, and it is my wish, my desire, and my pledge that I will always be a citizen that gives more to the community and to the country than I take.”

Another woman came to the microphone to share, “I come from deep, deep poverty. I’m from Honduras, this was a dream today come true.”

“My name is Omar,” said a young man who stepped to the microphone. “My family and I came from Syria looking for safety and a better future. Today, becoming a U.S. citizen on the Fourth of July is one of the proudest moments of my life. I’m especially thankful to my parents for their courage and sacrifices to bring our family to the United States and give me the opportunities I have today. I’m incredibly grateful to this country for giving my family and I opportunities we never imagined.

“I promise to do everything I can to give back, serve my community, work hard, and make this country proud. It’s an honor to call the United States my home.”

The new citizens spoke after U.S. District Court of Western Virginia was declared into session by Chief Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon who afterwards said, “I think you have an understanding now of that’s why it’s my favorite part of these naturalization ceremonies.”

She chose Senior U.S. District Judge Michael F. Ubansky to administer the oath, and he spoke about the propriety of Monticello being a place where new Americans are sworn in since it was Thomas Jefferson who signed into law the Naturalization Act of 1802.

“It is fitting that these new citizens will be asked to take the oath of citizenship here at Thomas Jefferson’s home,” Urbansky said. “The reason I say that is because during his first term in office, President Thomas Jefferson took up the issue of naturalization in his first annual message to Congress, now referred to as the State of the Union address, and a few months later on August 14, 1802 Congress passed the first naturalization law providing that persons qualified to become new citizens take an oath of citizenship before a federal court.”

Urbansky noted the oath taken on this day is the same oath contained in that Act of Congress.

As many of the new citizens mentioned, this year’s ceremony was a bit extra with what Jane Kamensky, President and CEO of Monticello, said is the culmination of nine years of work toward this day.

“And the earliest shift that came on today came on at 3:30 in the morning, excepting safety and security who never left the mountaintop last night,” Dr. Kamensky said. “Every department from archeology to security has contributed to your experience today.”

“Here at Monticello in the County of Albemarle in the Commonwealth of Virginia, July 4, 2026 represents a triple anniversary that we can mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor to borrow a phrase, to make significant in the lives of our families and communities, our new citizens and indeed the life of our country,” Kamensky said.

She said they’re celebrating the 250th anniversary “of these united states, a quarter millennium as marked by Congress’ adoption of the Declaration of Independence here at the home of its principal author”.

“We also celebrate the 250th of Virginia’s statehood as marked by the constitution ratified in Williamsburg 0n June 29, 1776, which is a little bit of a cheat but spot me the five days,” Dr. Kamensky quipped. “And then finally today, we also acknowledge a more somber anniversary which is the bicentennial of Thomas Jefferson’s death in 1826 on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.”

“By then his draft had become our Declaration, and indeed the whole world’s,” she said. “When Daniel Webster eulogized Jefferson and John Adams, who died up in Quincy, MA just hours after Jefferson passed in his bedroom right behind me here, he called them ‘stars and suns, luminaries whose exemplars might light our way'”.

Komensky called it an honor of a lifetime to be able to say when someone asks where she was on the 250th, “You were here at the home of Thomas Jefferson and with so many freedom lovers and freedom seekers in the founding era and ever since, down to our own re-founding moment today and especially tomorrow.”

She noted the friendship of Jefferson and Adams who had many vehement disagreements to the point Adams left the White House as the 2nd President’s term expired, not welcoming Jefferson as the 3rd President.

They later reconciled, and Kamensky spoke of that saying, “Here Monticello’s major investments have included the Founding Friends, Founding Foes tour that explicates the complicated relationship between Jefferson and Adams whose civic love ultimately outweighed their differences, and the Feast of Reason dinner party game in which everyone wins.”