On 3 July 1971, President Richard Nixon proclaimed to a nationwide television audience and a few select guests the beginning of the "Bicentennial Era," a period of preparation for the celebration of America's two-hundredth anniversary. Plans to commemorate the Bicentennial of American independence officially began in 1966, when Representative Charles Mathias of Maryland and Bradford Morse of Massachusetts introduced legislation that led to the creation of the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission (ARBC). To the congressmen, a Bicentennial is a "rare opportunity" for the nation to renew a commitment made two centuries ago by the Americans who first had the national dream.

Three guidelines for the Bicentennial emerged from the early activity of ARBC. It would 1) be national in scope; 2) it would continue to 1987 with the focal year 1976, the focal date 4 July of that year; and 3) it would be a time "to review and reaffirm the public principles upon which the nation was founded." The Commission also decided upon three basic themes for the Bicentennial Era: 1) Heritage '76 recalls the past; 2) Festival USA directs attention to the present and to other nations of the world; and 3) Horizons'76 anticipated the challenges of an uncertain future. Summons, opportunity, and challenge were the key words in ARBC's search for a national scheme of commemoration. Realizing that centennial planners must understand that, in celebration, ritual takes on meaning according to the tastes and desires of individual and community participants and the availability of materials and resources. With these ideas in mind state and local groups accepted the challenge of preparing varied activities and programs for the Bicentennial celebration.