The original 2018 United States Semiquincentennial Commission included eight members of Congress.
The first commission membership consisted of eight congressional members, 16 private citizens, and nine federal officials. Together, those groups formed the 33-member body sworn in at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on November 16, 2018.
The congressional representation was divided between the two chambers and the two major parties. The law provided for two members from each party in the Senate and two from each party in the House of Representatives, producing eight members of Congress altogether.
This number is easy to confuse with the commission’s total membership or with the later membership after statutory amendments. The original total was 33, and later changes to the number of ex officio federal officials expanded the overall body.