American holidays and general national mythmaking began because of the electoral issues and social changes taking place c. 1832. It was about this time that the last people for whom the revolution was a living memory were essentially all dead, and that meant that politicians could begin to invoke the authority of the founding fathers without fear of correction by someone with first-hand experience.

For this question, I cannot recommend a better book than The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory and the American Revolution by Alfred Young. The book is split into two parts. The first is biographical and tells the story of the titular shoemaker. The second part (which goes directly to your question) is analytical and narrative, and gives excellent detail on how the memory of the revolution was "tamed," "rediscovered," and "appropriated" between 1765 and 1835.