President Donald Trump stunned the nation on Friday by announcing his plan to sign an executive order later in the day, officially designating English as the official language of the United States. The move reverses a Clinton-era mandate requiring federal agencies to offer services and benefits in multiple languages and marks the first time in the country’s nearly 250-year history that it will have an official language.

A signing ceremony is scheduled to take place in the Oval Office on Friday. The decision places the U.S. among 180 out of 195 countries that have formally designated an official language. Although the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence were written exclusively in English, the political momentum to officially recognize it as the nation’s language had never materialized—until now.

A preview of the executive order indicated that it would also recognize and celebrate non-English-speaking immigrants who legally came to the U.S. and learned the language. An official stated that making English the official language would “empower immigrants” by fostering unity through a common language.