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.