U.S. #1568
1975 10¢ American Militia
Bicentennial Military Services
Issue Date: July 4, 1975
City: Washington, DC
Quantity: 44,963,750
Printed By: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Photogravure
Perforations: 11
Color: Multicolored
On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress adopted a motion to create ten companies of infantry that became the Continental Army.
On October 13, 1775, the Second Continental Congress authorized the formation of a Navy, which was initially composed of two ships with ten guns each.
On November 10, 1775, Congress formed two battalions of Marines to fight at sea and on the adjoining beaches.
The Militia, today called the National Guard, was America’s original armed force against Great Britain, fighting at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill.
The Bicentennial Series
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 April 1, 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 July 4, 1976, with the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
The U.S.P.S. 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.