U.S. 1634
1976 Pennsylvania State Flag
State Flags
American Bicentennial Series
• First time a sheet 50 had all different stamp designs
• Part of the American Bicentennial Series
Stamp Category: Commemorative
Series: American Bicentennial Series
Value: 13¢ First-class postage rate
First Day of Issue: February 23, 1976
First Day City(s): Washington, DC
Quantity Issued: 8,720,100 (panes of 50)
Printed by: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Photogravure
Format: Sheet of 50
Perforations: 11
Why the stamp was issued:
The United States Postal Service celebrated the American Bicentennial with a full pane of the Union’s fifty state flags.
About the stamp design:
Pennsylvania's State Flag is composed of a blue field with an embroidered State Coat of Arms. Draft horses are pictured on either side of the coat of arms, with the American eagle resting on the top. The scroll at the bottom reads “Virtue, Liberty and Independence.”
The first Pennsylvania state flag bearing the state coat of arms was authorized by the general assembly in 1799. In 1907, the flag was standardized in an act that required that the blue field match the blue of "Old Glory."
About the printing process:
Printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on their seven-color Andreotti gravure press (601) which was their work horse for multicolored stamps.
About the American Bicentennial Series:
In the 1970s, America celebrated its 200th anniversary with hundreds of national events commemorating the heroes and historic events that led to our nation’s independence from Great Britain. The U.S. Postal Service 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.
Several of the stamps honored colonial life – craftsmen and communication. Other stamps honored important battles including Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, and Saratoga. Significant events such as the Boston Tea Party, the meeting of the First Continental Congress, and the Declaration of Independence were featured as well. The stamps also honored many significant people such as George Washington, Sybil Ludington, Salem Poor, and the Marquis de Lafayette.
Many of the stamps feature classic artwork. For instance, the set of four souvenir sheets picture important events recreated by noted artists such as John Trumbull. The Bicentennial Series also includes an important US postal first – the first 50-stamp se-tenant – featuring all 50 state flags. The format proved to be popular with collectors, and has been repeated many times since.
The American Bicentennial Series is packed with important US history – it tells the story of our nation’s fight for independence through stamps.
History the stamp represents:
On December 12, 1787, Pennsylvania was the second state to ratify the Constitution and be admitted to the Union.
Two major Indian tribes lived in Pennsylvania when the first European explorers arrived the Algonquian and the Iroquoian. The Algonquian tribes included the Conoy, Delaware, Nanticoke, and Shawnee. Only one Iroquoian tribe lived in the region, the Susquehannock, who lived along the Susquehanna River.
Henry Hudson, an English explorer working for the Dutch East India Company, sailed into Delaware Bay looking for a trade route to the Far East. Hudson’s reports on the region led the Dutch to send more explorers, and in 1615, Cornelius Hendricksen sailed the Delaware up to what is now Philadelphia.
However, it was the Swedes who made the first permanent settlement in the region. In 1643, they made Tinicum Island, near Philadelphia, the capital of the colony of New Sweden. Dutch troops led by Peter Stuyvesant came from New Netherland and captured New Sweden in 1655. The Dutch controlled the region until 1664, when the English assumed control. The Duke of York governed until 1681, when King Charles II gave this land to William Penn to pay a debt he owed his father, an English admiral. Penn wanted to name the region New Wales, but was blocked by a powerful Welsh member of the Privy Council. So, Penn settled on the name Sylvania, which means woods. King James II added Penn to the name in honor of William’s father.
As a Quaker, William Penn wanted the people of Pennsylvania to have freedom to worship, as well as personal and political freedoms. He arrived in Pennsylvania in 1682 with the colony’s first constitution, the Frame of Government, which he had written. It provided for a deputy governor and an elected legislature with a provincial council and a general assembly. In 1683, the legislature drafted a second Frame of Government, which gave the people even more power. Shortly after he arrived, Penn paid the Indians in the region for the land King Charles had given him even though he was not obligated to do so. Penn was removed as governor of the colony for a short time when his daughter, Mary, and her husband, William, overthrew his close friend King James II.
From the late 1600s until the mid-1700s, Pennsylvania, along with other British colonies, was involved in several wars against French colonists and their Indian allies. The French and Indian War started in western Pennsylvania in 1754. The war ended with a British victory in 1763. Later that year, Pontiac, an Ottawa chief, fought against the British. Ottawa lost the Battle of Bushy Run, near Greensburg. Pennsylvania bought more land from the Indians in the Fort Stanwix Treaty of 1768. This settled most of the colony’s Indian troubles.
Pennsylvania, and particularly Philadelphia, was a hotbed for revolutionary patriots. The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774. This congress voted to stop all trade with Great Britain. The Revolutionary War began in April 1775. The next month, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. The delegates there voted for independence. This resulted in the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, in the Pennsylvania Statehouse (now Liberty Hall) in Philadelphia. The state’s first convention was held in the State House at that time.
During the war a great deal of fighting took place in Philadelphia, and the Continental Congress was twice forced to flee the city. As the war started to turn against the British, they withdrew from the city in June 1778, and the Continental Congress returned. During the winter of 1777 and 1778, George Washington and his army camped in Valley Forge, an area along the Schuylkill River, near Philadelphia. The troops had inadequate food, clothing, and shelter. Many perished. The legendary winter at Valley Forge tested the loyalty of the American army. On January 9, 1778, Pennsylvania adopted the forerunner to the U.S. Constitution, the Articles of Confederation. The Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia from May to September in 1778. Pennsylvania became the second state to approve the U.S. Constitution and join the Union on December 12, 1787. Philadelphia served as the nation’s capital from 1790 until 1800, when it was moved to Washington, D.C.
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