The original 2018 membership of the United States Semiquincentennial Commission included 16 private citizens.
That initial membership also included eight members of Congress and nine federal officials, making 33 commissioners in total. The mix was intended to combine political representation, civic participation, and federal expertise in planning the 2026 anniversary.
Private citizens were defined in the commission’s governing framework as people who were not employees or officers of federal, state, or local governments. Party leaders in Congress appointed members from the private-citizen group, while the president designated the chairperson from among them.
The membership later changed. Amendments increased the number of nonvoting ex officio federal officials, bringing the overall body to 36 members. Therefore, the figure 16 refers specifically to the original 2018 composition, not every later version of the commission.