The 2026 United States Semiquincentennial follows the 1976 Bicentennial and the earlier 1926 United States Sesquicentennial.
A sesquicentennial marks 150 years, so the 1926 observance commemorated 150 years since the Declaration of Independence. Philadelphia hosted the Sesquicentennial Exposition, continuing the city’s association with the 1876 Centennial Exposition and the founding era.
The 1926 celebration was smaller and less successful than organizers hoped, but it included exhibitions, parades, and civic events. It also reflected the growth of the United States into an industrial and technologically modern nation.
The anniversary names can be easy to confuse. A centennial is 100 years, a sesquicentennial is 150, a bicentennial is 200, and a semiquincentennial is 250. America250 therefore continues a sequence of national commemorations held at major intervals since the nineteenth century.