The United States Semiquincentennial Commission, the congressional America250 organization, was established in 2016.
Congress created the commission to plan and coordinate national observances for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Its work gives America250 a formal, nonpartisan structure rather than making the anniversary solely a collection of local celebrations.
The anniversary itself falls in 2026, 250 years after the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration in 1776. The commission is therefore a planning body, not the anniversary name and not the document being commemorated. America250 is the public-facing name commonly associated with the commission and its nationwide commemorative efforts.
The United States Semiquincentennial is also described with less common terms, including sestercentennial and quarter millennium. Those labels refer to the anniversary, while the commission refers to the organization responsible for helping plan it.