# 1651 - 1976 13c State Flags: Indiana

U.S. 1651
1976 Indiana
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:
    Indiana’s state flag has a solid blue field. There are thirteen gold stars in a circle around a gold torch. The torch and rays represent liberty and enlightenment and the influence they have. The full circle of thirteen starts represents the original states. Inside that circle is a semi-circle of five stars on the bottom of torch that stand for the states admitted before Indiana. The last of the stars is the biggest and is placed above the torch which, of course, represents Indiana.

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 11, 1816, Indiana was admitted to the Union becoming the 19th State.

     In 1679, the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, the Sieur de La Salle, became the first European to explore Indiana. La Salle came to the area from French colonies in Canada in an effort to find a water route to the Pacific Ocean, traveling down the St. Joseph and Kankakee rivers. He returned in 1680, and explored the northern region of Indiana.

     Soon after La Salle’s expeditions, French fur traders came to the area. They traded beads, blankets, knives, paint, and whiskey to the Indians in exchange for furs. These exchanges were quite lucrative for the French. During the 1720s, the French built fur trading posts to foster and protect the fur trade in Miami (near today’s Fort Wayne) and Ouiatenon (near today’s Lafayette). In 1732, the French created the first permanent European settlement in Indiana by building a fort at Vincennes.

    Although British troops moved into Indiana following France’s surrender of this territory, Indiana settlers provided most of the region’s resistance against the Americans during the Revolutionary War. Virginia troops, under the leadership of George Rogers Clark, occupied Vincennes and its fort, Fort Sackville, in 1778. A British force recaptured the fort, but Clark took it again in 1779. Control of this area helped the American army dominate the Northwest.

    The U.S. Congress created the Indiana Territory in 1800. This included the modern states of Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, as well as parts of Michigan and Minnesota. Vincennes was the capital of the territory. In 1809, Illinois became a separate territory, and at that time borders were nearly identical to present-day Indiana. That same year, the territory’s governor, future U.S. President William Henry Harrison, bought more than 2,500,000 acres of land from Indians in southern Indiana. The legendary Shawnee Chief Tecumseh claimed the purchase was unfair. He raised an army and purchased guns from the British. In 1811, Harrison defeated the Indians at the Battle of Tippecanoe. In 1813, Harrison again defeated Indian forces at the Battle of Thames, in which Tecumseh was killed. With this victory, the Americans were able to settle the land.

     The earliest attempt at statehood came in 1811, when Jonathan Jennings submitted legislation to Congress. But the proposed territory only had 25,000 people, far fewer than was required to be made a state. The War of 1812 interrupted these attempts, but talks of statehood resumed in 1816. Then on December 11, 1816, Indiana achieved statehood. At first, the state was plagued by a lack of tax revenue. The only source of income for the state government was the land tax, and new settlers did not have to pay that for five years after buying their land from the Federal Government. Also, farmers made little or no profit on their crops, as transportation to the markets in the east was expensive and risky. In 1818, the Federal Government purchased land in the center of the state from the Indians. The New Purchase, as it was called, opened more land for settlement. The capital was moved to Indianapolis, where it has remained due to its central location.