Thirty-three commissioners were sworn in when the America250 commission convened in 2018.
The commissioners were sworn in on November 16, 2018, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Holding the ceremony there connected the modern planning body with the location where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated and adopted.
The commission’s membership was intended to bring together federal officials, members of Congress, and private citizens with relevant experience. Its work involved planning a national commemoration rather than organizing only one ceremony in one city.
The number 33 is easy to confuse with the thirteen colonies or the 56 signers of the Declaration. Those numbers belong to different parts of the founding story: thirteen colonies declared independence, while 56 delegates eventually signed the engrossed Declaration. The commission’s 33 members were a modern planning body.