The United States Semiquincentennial Commission was created in 2016.
Congress established the commission through legislation signed during the Obama administration. Its purpose was to promote and coordinate the 250th anniversary of American independence, giving the country a central body for planning well before 2026.
The commission is a congressional, nonpartisan organization rather than a historical society or a state-level committee. Its duties include encouraging commemorative programs, coordinating with federal agencies, and helping organize events connected with significant places in American history.
The creation year is easy to confuse with later milestones. The commission’s first group of commissioners was sworn in at Independence Hall in 2018, and a 2020 law amended its structure. Those later dates concern organization and membership, not the commission’s founding.