Thirty-three members of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission were sworn in at Independence Hall on November 16, 2018.
The commission is the congressionally appointed body responsible for promoting and coordinating the national 250th-anniversary observance. Its members were sworn in at the Philadelphia building associated with both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
The ceremony marked the beginning of the commission’s organized planning for the 2026 celebration. The body included private citizens, members of Congress, and federal officials. Congress later amended the commission’s structure, increasing the number of nonvoting ex officio federal officials and bringing the total membership to 36 under the amended arrangement.
The number 33 therefore describes the original group sworn in at the 2018 ceremony, not necessarily the commission’s later authorized membership. Independence Hall was chosen for its symbolic connection to the founding documents and to the historical events that America250 commemorates.