USPS Legends of Holloywood - Henry Fonda

 

USPS on 20 May 2005 issued the Legends of Hollywood Series, featuring Henry Fonda. The cancellation postmark originated in Los Angeles, California. This multicoloured, lithographed stamp was printed by Ashton-Potter (USA) Ltd. It featured a Serpentine Die Cut 11 x 10.75 perforations. Total printing run was 65,000,000 stamps.

Henry Jaynes Fonda was born on 16 May 1905, in Grand Island, Nebraska. Fonda’s big break came in 1935 when he was offered a part in "The Farmer Takes a Wife", reprising his role from the Broadway play that had gained him significant attention.

Soon his friend James Stewart moved out to Hollywood to join him and they lived next door to Greta Garbo. That same year, Fonda appeared in "I Dream Too Much" with Lily Pons. The New York Times called him “the most likable of the new crop of romantic juveniles.”   Fonda then appeared in "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine", the first Technicolor movie to be filmed outdoors. 

In the coming years, Fonda worked with Hollywood’s elite, including Bette Davis and John Ford. He had several big hits, including "You Only Live Once", "Jezebel", "Young Mr. Lincoln", "Jesse James", and "Drums Along the Mohawk". Then in 1940 he appeared in "The Grapes of Wrath", for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Many consider this to be the best performance of his career.

Fonda took a break from acting during World War II, claiming, “I don’t want to be in a fake war in a studio.” He enlisted in the Navy and served for three years and earned a Bronze Star for his service. After retuning home, Fonda played Wyatt Earp in "My Darling Clementine", worked with Joan Crawford in "Daisy Kenyon", and Ford again in "The Fugitive". He also appeared in "Fort Apache" with John Wayne and Shirley Temple.

After that, Fonda returned to Broadway to play the title role in "Mister Roberts", wearing his own officer’s cap. He earned a Tony Award for the performance and spent the next several years in successful stage productions. After eight years away from Hollywood, he reprised his role in "Mister Roberts" for the screen. Fonda continued to work in movies, appearing in "War and Peace", "The Wrong Man", and "12 Angry Men", for which he won a BAFTA Best Actor award.

Most of Fonda’s roles throughout the 1960s were in war and western films such as "The Longest Day", "How the West Was Won", "Battle of Bulge", and "Once Upon a Time in the West". In the 70s Fonda continued to work on stage and the big and small screens. He starred in his own TV series, "The Smith Family", was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame, and received and the Lifetime Achievement Awards from The Fold Globes and Academy Awards. In 1981 he starred in "On Golden Pond" opposite Katharine Hepburn and his daughter Jane. The film was an unexpected blockbuster and Fonda earned his only Oscar, for Best Actor, as well as a Golden Globe.

Henry Fonda died the following year, on August 12, 1982. President Ronald Reagan, a former actor, called Fonda “a true professional dedicated to excellence in his craft. He graced the screen with a sincerity and accuracy which made him a legend.”

Source: Mystic Stamps

USPS 300th Birth Anniversary of Benjamin Franklin

USPS on 17 January 2006 issued a series of four stamps to mark the 300th birth anniversary of Benjamin Franklin. The cancellation postmark originated from Philadelphia.

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was the son of a soap and candle maker.  As a youth, he learned these trades but found them unsatisfactory.  So he became an apprentice to his brother James, a printer, at the age of 12.  It was in this apprenticeship that Franklin started what he considered his primary, lifelong occupation – printing.

During this time Franklin also wrote many articles that were submitted and published under the pseudonym “Silence Dogood.”  These writings demonstrated his unique wit, humor, and insight.  

Aside from his publishing work, Franklin flourished, and his accomplishments and contributions to the city earned him the title “The first citizen of Philadelphia.”  Franklin’s many contributions to the city of Philadelphia include: founding the first subscription library in the American colonies; organizing the city’s fire department; law enforcement reform; leading efforts to pave, clean, and light public streets; raising money to build a city hospital, the Pennsylvania Hospital; and founding the academy that became the University of Pennsylvania.  Franklin was also an important inventor and scientist.  He discovered lightning was electricity, and created such terms as armature, condenser, and battery.

In 1753, Franklin was appointed deputy postmaster general of the American colonies.  He greatly improved the frequency and reliability of mail service.  By 1761, the post office showed a profit for the very first time.  Under Franklin’s supervision, the Colonial post office continued to show a profit for several years.  In 1774, Franklin was dismissed from the office due to his views on Britain’s “taxation without representation.”

In 1775, when the American Revolution began, Franklin was the obvious choice for starting the new mail system, and the Continental Congress appointed him the first postmaster general of the United States.  Soon, mail was flowing from Portland, Maine, to Savannah, Georgia.  Franklin standardized rates, surveyed routes, erected milestones along long-distance delivery routes, and slashed delivery time between major cities by half.  Franklin donated his salary for relief for wounded soldiers.

As the war progressed, it quickly became obvious that an alliance with France could ultimately decide the outcome of the Revolution.  Late in 1776, at the age of 70, Franklin traveled to France to secure an alliance.  He received a hero’s welcome in Paris.  The French appreciated Franklin’s kindness and wisdom, but were hesitant to enter a war against the British.  However, Franklin remained persistent.  After the British surrender at Saratoga, the French were sufficiently impressed.  On February 6, 1778, the French signed a pact with the United States.  Franklin immediately arranged for transportation of French officers, soldiers, and guns to America.  He remained in Paris and kept generous gifts and loans from France flowing to America.  Historians believe that without France’s assistance, the United States would have lost the war.

Franklin was the only person to sign all four of the key documents in United States history: the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain, and the Constitution of the United States.  He died on April 17, 1790.  As a statesman, he stands among the top rank of the people who built our nation.

Source: Mystic Stamps

USPS The Battle of Saratoga

 

USPS on 7 October 1977 issued a first day cover stamp commemorating The Battle of Saratoga. The cancellation postmark originated from Schuylerville, New York. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing printed 153,736,000 stamps using the photogravure method. This multicoloured stamp featured 11 x 10 ½ perforations.

The Battle of Saratoga was a turning point in the Revolutionary War. The American defeat of the superior British army lifted patriot morale, furthered the hope for independence, and helped to secure the foreign support needed to win the war.

One of the most decisive American battles of the Revolutionary War, Saratoga ended British general John Burgoyne's attempt to control the Hudson River Valley. The outcome convinced the Court of King Louis XVI that the Americans could hold their own against the British Army, sealing the alliance between America and France. American general Benedict Arnold was hailed as a hero for his bravery on the battlefield, a reputation lost with his later betrayal and defection to the Royalists.
In context

In 1777, British strategy called for a three-pronged attack on New York, with three separate armies converging near Albany. For British general John Burgoyne, moving south from Canada with 7,500 men, the Hudson River Valley became the critical route for the invasion.  By August, Burgoyne had captured Fort Ticonderoga, defeated fleeing American troops at Hubbardton (Vermont), and occupied Fort Edward, on the edge of the Hudson River. After a contingent of Burgoyne’s troops was defeated in the Battle of Bennington, his reduced forces marched south toward Saratoga in early September.

General Horatio Gates and his American soldiers had built formidable defenses on Bemis Heights, just south of Saratoga overlooking the Hudson. The two armies engaged in combat at Freeman’s Farm on 19 September. While the British held off the Americans, their losses were great. Burgoyne’s battered forces dug trenches and waited for reinforcements, but none came. Burgoyne launched a second, unsuccessful attack on the Americans at Bemis Heights on 7 October.  With no means of escape, Burgoyne eventually surrendered to Gates on 17 October. The victory persuaded France to sign a treaty with the United States against Britain. France’s financial and military support contributed to Washington’s victory at Yorktown in 1781, which effectively ended America’s War for Independence.

Source: Mystic Stamps

USPS The Spirit of Seventy-Six

USPS on 1 January 1976 issued a three-stamp se-tenant honouring the Spirit of Seventy-Six. This se-tenant depicted the famous oil painting by Archibald M. Willard of a fife player and two drummers, leading American troops during the American Revolutionary War. The original painting hangs in the Selectmen’s Room in Marblehead, Massachusetts. The cancellation postmark for this first day issue originated from Pasadena, California. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing printed 73,151,667 using the photogravure method. It featured 11 perforations and it was blue violet and multicoloured. 

During the American Revolution, patriot Thomas Paine opined in the first of 13 pamphlets from 1776 till 1781: "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated."

This particular pamphlet American Commander-in-Chief General George Washington ordered to be read aloud to American soldiers on 23 December 1776, before the Battle of Trenton. With the success of the ongoing revolution in doubt a week earlier, his army had seemed on the verge of collapse. The dramatic victory inspired soldiers to serve longer and attracted new recruits to the ranks. The victory in turn also motivated patriots and sympathisers of the newly formed United States.

 

USPS The Boston Tea Party

USPS on 4 July 1973 issued a set of four stamps commemorating the Boston Tea Party. This marked the second time the US post office used four separate designs to create one larger scene. These stamps depict the drama of the night in 1773 when enraged colonists, dressed as Mohawk Indians, dumped chests of tea into Boston Harbor in protest of an English-levied tax. The cancellation postmark for this first day cover originated in Boston Massachusetts. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing printed 49,068,750,000 in a lithographed, engraved method with 11 perforations, in black and multicolour.

On 16 December 1773, a group of Massachusetts colonists known as the Sons of Liberty staged a dramatic protest against British taxes – the famed Boston Tea Party.

The French and Indian War left Britain in debt. So taxes were levied on the New World colonies, which enraged colonists as they had no say in government. The slogan, “No taxation without representation,” became popular in Massachusetts and protests were staged. In 1770, British soldiers fired on a group of angry patriots, killing five of them. The Boston Massacre, as it came to be known, sparked public sentiment against the British.

Britain continued to impose new tea taxes on the colonies. The colonists weren’t simply upset at the taxes themselves, but a number of important factors. For one, they didn’t believe Parliament should have the authority to tax the colonies if they didn’t have a representative there to act in their interests. Also, Britain had essentially formed a tea monopoly (by only allowing colonies to buy from one source) and colonists feared this could later extend to other goods.

In the early fall of 1773, Britain sent seven ships carrying 600,000 pounds of tea to the colonies. Protesters met with the consignees (colonial merchants who would sell the incoming tea) and convinced many of them to resign and send the arriving tea back to England. In fact, they resigned everywhere except Massachusetts. The colonial governor there refused to back down and convinced his consignees not to resign. On 29 November  when the tea ship arrived in Boston Harbor, Samuel Adams called for a meeting. Thousands turned out, and Adams presented a resolution, urging the ship’s captain to take the tea back to England. The governor refused to allow the ship to leave without paying the duty.

Unfazed by the governor’s resistance, Adams called another meeting on 16 December. But upon hearing that the governor once again refused to let the ships leave, Adams declared that “this meeting can do nothing further to save the country.” Shortly after some 100 to 130 men left the meeting for the harbor. Some of them painted their faces and donned the clothes of Mohawk Warriors. After dark, they boarded the three British ships, and dumped all 342 chests of tea into the harbor. The tea was valued at 9,000 pounds sterling – a tremendous sum of money.

It’s been debated whether Adams helped plan the Boston Tea Party or not. Either way, once it was over, he widely publicised and defended it. Similar “tea parties” soon took place elsewhere in America, and the British government was outraged. Following the Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament decided on harsher means to make the colonies more cooperative. Parliament passed a series of laws they called the Coercive Acts – bluntly called the Intolerable Acts by American patriots. These laws greatly restricted the colonies, particularly Massachusetts, which lost its self-government and commerce.

Colonists felt the rules were a threat to their rights, and formed the First Continental Congress to discuss the situation. This led to greater unity among the colonies and increased support for independence, setting the stage for the Revolutionary War.

Source: Mystic Stamps

USPS American Bicentennial Souvenir Sheets

USPS on 29 May 1976, issued four souvenir sheets to commemorate INTERPHIL ‘76 (Seventh International Philatelic Exhibition) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Each sheet contained five individually perforated stamps, which were valid for postage.  Since the U.S. was celebrating its 200th anniversary of Independence, four famous Revolutionary War paintings were appropriately chosen as design subjects for the sheets.

 Each sheet measures  6 x 8 inch. The stamps created by the perforations in the sheet are the standard commemorative size of .84 by 1.44 inches or 21.4 by 36.5 millimeters. They are arranged in vertical and horizontal combinations on three of the sheets. All five stamps are vertical for the surrender of Cornwallis sheet. “USA” and the denomination appears in a corner of each stamp.

The sheets are being produced by a combination of offset and intaglio printing. The paintings are being reproduced by offset, and the “USA” and denomination by intaglio on a Giori press.

The first sheet, "The Declaration of Independence" which contained five 13-cent stamps, featured a reproduction by John Trumbull. The painting shows 42 of the 56 signers of the Declaration; Trumbull originally intended to include all 56 signers but was unable to obtain likenesses for all of them. He also depicted several participants in the debate who did not sign the document, including John Dickinson, who declined to sign.

The second sheet, which contained five 13-cent stamps, featured a reproduction of "Washington Crossing the Delaware" by Emanuel Leutze and Eastman Johnson. The painting commemorates General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River with the Continental Army on the night of 25–26 December  1776, during the American Revolutionary War. That action was the first move in a surprise attack and victory against Hessian forces at the Battle of Trenton in New Jersey on the morning of 26 December.

The third sheet, which contained five 13-cent stamps, featured a reproduction of "Washington Reviewing the Ragged Troops at Valley Forge" by William Trego.  The March to Valley Forge, December 19, 1777 is one of the most iconic paintings of the Revolutionary War. Painted by Philadelphia artist William B. T. Trego in 1883, the scene shows the Continental Army limping into their winter encampment at Valley Forge. Washington is at the centre.

The fourth and final sheet, which contained five 13-cent stamps, featured a reproduction of John Trumbull’s painting “The Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.”  Picturing the moment that “ended the war,” the scene shows American and French officers, including Washington, lined up to receive the British surrender.

In total, the U.S. Bicentennial was a series of celebrations during the mid-1970s that commemorated the historic events leading to America’s independence from Great Britain. The official events began on 1 April 1975, when the American Freedom Train departed Delaware to begin a 21-month, 25,338-mile tour of the 48 contiguous states. For more than a year, a wave of patriotism swept the nation as elaborate firework displays lit up skies across the U.S., an international fleet of tall-mast sailing ships gathered in New York City and Boston, and Queen Elizabeth made a state visit. The celebration culminated on 4 Jul 1976, with the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
 
The USPS issued 113 commemorative stamps over a six-year period in honor of the U.S. bicentennial, beginning with the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission Emblem stamp (U.S. #1432). As a group, the Bicentennial Series chronicles one of our nation’s most important chapters, and remembers the events and patriots who made the U.S. a world model for liberty.

 

 Source: Mystic Stamps

USPS 150th Anniversary (1862-2012) of the American Civil War

USPS on 24 April 2012 continued to issue the Civil War Series of stamps commemorating the 150th anniversary of the War between the States. Two stamps were released: The Battle on Antietam and The Battle of New Orleans. These multicoloured, offset stamps were printed by Ashton Potter, with a die cut of 11 perforations.

As the war entered its second year, the Federal government launched its first massive campaign to defeat the Confederacy. The North and South each had one million men facing off along a battlefront stretching from Virginia to Missouri. The loss of lives was enormous – five of the war’s bloodiest battles occurred in 1862, resulting in over 119,000 casualties.

The Battle of Antietam (17 September 1862)
The Confederacy fought back hard. Most of the battles had occurred on its territory. General Robert E. Lee decided it was time to take the war to the Union. His invasion ended in defeat with the Battle of Antietam, which was the single bloodiest battle on American soil at that time.
 
McClellan continued to overestimate the strength and size of his opponent. Lincoln had grown frustrated with his top general, but was heartened by the victories of Ulysses S. Grant in the West. His hopes were further buoyed by the victory of the ironclad Monitor in the Battle of Hampton Roads.

The Battle of New Orleans
Although neither side prevailed, two events eventually changed the war’s course. Union forces captured New Orleans and took control of the Mississippi River in April. This was followed on 1 January 1863, by the Emancipation Proclamation, which barred slavery throughout the Confederacy.