What earlier national anniversary did the United States celebrate in 1976?

The United States celebrated its Bicentennial in 1976.

The anniversary marked 200 years since the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776. It was a major nationwide commemoration featuring parades, exhibitions, educational programs, historical reenactments, and extensive patriotic imagery. The official anniversary date was July 4, 1976.

The Bicentennial helped establish a pattern for large-scale national anniversary celebrations. The 2026 America250 observance follows it by 50 years, turning the sequence from 200 years to 250 years after independence. The two anniversaries are linked by their focus on the Declaration and the country's founding history.

The 1976 celebration is sometimes confused with the 1975 anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which began the American Revolutionary War in 1775. The Bicentennial itself commemorated the 1776 declaration of independence, not the outbreak of fighting.