The U.S. Postal Service issued its three-stamp Spirit of '76 Bicentennial set on January 1, 1976.
The stamps were based on Archibald Willard’s well-known patriotic painting, which portrays three Revolutionary War-era marchers. They were issued as a triptych, meaning the three designs were intended to be viewed together as a connected image.
Each stamp carried a 13-cent denomination, matching the domestic first-class letter rate at the time. The issue formed part of the postal service’s broader commemoration of the American Bicentennial.
The artwork itself predates the Bicentennial by a century: Willard created it around 1875 for the 1876 Centennial Exposition. The stamp issue therefore linked the 1976 celebration to an earlier national anniversary.