The United States Semiquincentennial Commission identified four leading cities for America250 events.
The cities named in the legislation are Boston, Philadelphia, New York City, and Charleston, South Carolina. Each has a strong connection to the American Revolution and the political history surrounding independence. The list does not mean that celebrations are limited to those places; it highlights locations of particular historical significance.
Philadelphia hosted the Continental Congress and was the setting for the drafting and adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Boston was central to the early resistance movement, New York was a major Revolutionary War theater, and Charleston was an important Southern port and battlefield region.
The number four can be confused with the thirteen colonies that declared independence or the fifty states that make up the modern United States. The commission’s “leading cities” designation is a planning category, not a count of all communities participating in America250.