Philadelphia hosted the 2018 swearing-in ceremony for America250 commissioners at Independence Hall. The ceremony placed the federal anniversary effort in the city where key events of the American founding occurred.
Philadelphia was the meeting place of the Second Continental Congress, which adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was also the location of the Constitutional Convention, whose delegates drafted and signed the Constitution in 1787.
The city has remained closely associated with national anniversary celebrations. It played a major role in the 1976 bicentennial and has continued to promote itself as a central destination for events marking the United States’ 250th anniversary.