Thirty-three members were sworn in when the United States Semiquincentennial Commission convened in 2018.
The commission’s members were sworn in at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on November 16, 2018. The group then held its first organizing meeting as it began preparing for the 2026 national anniversary.
The 33-member body included 16 private citizens, eight members of Congress, and nine federal officials. This composition was intended to bring together public officials and citizens with different kinds of experience in history, government, education, culture, and civic life.
The number 33 is easy to confuse with other figures associated with the anniversary. The Declaration represented thirteen colonies, and the United States has fifty states. Neither number describes the original membership sworn in for the semiquincentennial commission.