The United States marks its creation to the day when colonial leaders signed the “Declaration of Independence,” a document which outlined the reasons for the thirteen colonies to terminate formally their relationship with Great Britain. On July 4, 1776 the nation’s founders affirmed the “inalienable rights” of the individual as “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Although these rights were based on the assumption that “all people are created equal,” the nation’s founders, and its subsequent leaders, did not end race-based slavery until 1865 with the passage of the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution. Despite constitutional guarantees of equality, America’s minorities were denied full equality of citizenship. The two decades prior to the 1976 US Bicentennial included citizens’ most open questioning of the government’s guarantees of liberty and equality. Not only did the nation’s minority groups, including African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans, protest non-violently and violently for their rights, but many young people defied the government’s authority to send them to Vietnam to fight a war they considered immoral.

National planning for the Bicentennial was further challenged by the Nixon administration’s lack of credibility The administration’s planning committee was accused of being overly politicized and organized only to serve the political interests of Nixon. In August 1974, following two years of investigation into his administration’s misdeeds, President Nixon resigned, leaving the US with its first non-elected president, Gerald R. Ford. While the US had officially ended its military involvement in the Vietnam War in 1973, the nation and the world were horrified by the images of the fall of Saigon in April and May 1975, when the US Embassy was overwhelmed by communist forces.

Created in 1974, the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration (ARBA) had the difficult task of organizing Bicentennial commemorative events within this vexing political environment. The ARBA, led by the former Secretary of the navy and future US Senator John W. Warner, was further challenged by a competing, private organization, the People’s Bicentennial Commission, which attempted to turn the Bicentennial into a critique of the nation’s institutional powers. Moreover, civil-rights leader Jesse Jackson called for blacks to boycott the official celebration. However, Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X, and Alex Haley served as active advisors on the ARBA. Other minority leaders requested a voice within the ARBA, which Warner granted. This group, the Bicentennial Ethnic Racial Coalition, sought to merge the Bicentennial efforts with urban renewal and recognition of America’s cultural diversity. By 1976 the ARBA had created a national symbol for the Bicentennial and planned televised events in Washington, DC, Philadelphia, PA and New York City, NY. More importantly the ARBA fostered local commemorations that were tied to people’s personal histories and identities. Instead of focusing on national institutions of power such as the military or the presidency, the ARBA used the Bicentennial to forge a new image of America strengthened by its multicultural diversity.