History of the United States Flag
Nov 18, 2008 12:19:40 GMT -6
Post by Moderator on Nov 18, 2008 12:19:40 GMT -6
HISTORY OF THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Before we became a nation, our land knew many flags. Long ago, the Norsemen probed our coastal waters sailing under the banner of the black raven. Columbus carried a Spanish flag across the seas. The Pilgrims carried the flag of Great Britain. The Dutch colonists brought their striped flag to New Amsterdam. The French explored the continent under the royal fleur-de-lis. Each native Indian tribe had its own totem and insignia. Immigrants of every race and nationality, in seeking a new allegiance, have brought their symbols of loyalty to our shores.
During the American Revolution, various banners were used by the not-yet-united colonies. A green pine tree with the motto An Appeal To Heaven was popular with our young Navy. The rattlesnake's warning, Don't Tread On Me, was displayed by aroused colonists along the Atlantic seaboard. The Moultrie Liberty flag, a large blue banner with a white crescent in the upper corner, rallied the defenders of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1776. The Bunker Hill flag was a blue banner with a white canton filled with a red cross and a small green pine. The flag of the maritime colony of Rhode Island bore a blue anchor under the word Hope. Strikingly similar to the Stars and Stripes was the flag carried by the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont at the battle of Bennington in August, 1777.
The first flag of the colonies to have any resemblance to the present Stars and Stripes was the Grand Union Flag, sometimes referred to as the Congress Colors, the First Navy Ensign, and the Cambridge Flag. When General George Washington took command of the Continental Army in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1776, he stood under the Grand Union Flag. The flag consisted of thirteen stripes, representing the thirteen colonies, alternately red and white, with a blue field in the upper left hand corner bearing the crosses of Saint George of England and Saint Andrew of Scotland.
As the flag of the revolution, it was used on many occasions. It was first flown by the ships of the Colonial Fleet on the Delaware River. It was raised aboard Captain Esek Hopkin's flag-ship Alfred by John Paul Jones, then a Navy lieutenant, on December 3, 1775. Later the flag was raised on the Liberty Pole at Prospect Hill, which was near George Washington's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was our unofficial national flag on July 4, 1776 and it remained the unofficial national flag and ensign of the Navy until June 1777 when the Continental Congress authorized the Stars and Stripes.
The Stars and Stripes originated as a result of a resolution adopted by the Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia on June 14, 1777. The resolution read ... Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field representing a new constellation. General George Washington said, "We take the stars from heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty."
The resolution gave no instruction as to how many points the stars should have, nor how the stars should be arranged on the blue union. Consequently, some flags had stars scattered on the blue field without any specific design, some arranged the stars in rows, and some in a circle. The first Continental Navy Stars and Stripes had the stars arranged in staggered formation in alternate rows of threes and twos on a blue field. Other Stars and Stripes flags had stars arranged in alternate rows of four, five and four. Some stars had six points while others had eight.
Strong evidence indicates that Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was responsible for the stars in the U.S. flag. At the time that the flag resolution was adopted, Hopkinson was the Chairman of the Continental Navy Board's Middle Department. Hopkinson also helped design other devices for the government, including the Great Seal of the United States.
The most popular flag, with the stars in a circle so that no state could claim precedence over another, is known as the Betsy Ross flag, in honor of the seamstress who is supposed to have sewn the first one, although there is no proof that she made the first Stars and Stripes. It is known that on May 29, 1777, the State Navy Board of Pennsylvania commissioned Betsy Ross to sew flags for Navy vessels. Legend credits Ross with having sewn the first flag to meet the specifications outlined by Congress, while changing the stars from six points to five to speed her work. The flag was first carried in battle at Brandywine, Pennsylvania in September 1777. It first flew over foreign territory in early 1778, at Nassau in the Bahama Islands, where Americans captured a fort from the British. The flag popularly known as the Betsy Ross Flag, which arranged the stars in a circle, did not appear until the early 1790s.
After Vermont and Kentucky became states in the 1790s, Congress approved adding two more stars and two more stripes to the group that represented the original 13 colonies. This flag was the official flag of our country from 1795 to 1818, and was prominent in many historic events. It was the first flag to be flown over a fortress of the Old World when American Marine and Naval forces raised it above the pirate stronghold in Tripoli on April 27, 1805. It was the ensign of American forces in the battle of Lake Erie in September of 1813, the flag that withstood enemy bombardment at Fort McHenry, Maryland on September 13 and 14, 1814, inspiring Francis Scott Key to write The Star-Spangled Banner, and it was flown by General Andrew Jackson at the battle for New Orleans in January, 1815.
Realizing the flag would become unwieldy with a stripe for each new state, Continental Navy Captain Samuel Reid suggested to Congress that the stripes remain thirteen in number to represent the thirteen colonies, and that a star be added to the blue field for each new state coming into the Union. On April 4, 1818, President James Monroe signed a bill requiring that the flag of the United States have a union of 20 stars, white on a blue field; that 13 stripes should be horizontal, alternately red and white; and that upon admission of each new State into the Union one star be added to the union of the flag on the fourth of July following its date of admission. The law did not specify color shades or arrangement of the stars, and wide variation persisted. During the Civil War, gold stars were more common than white and the stars sometimes appeared in a circle.
Since 1818, each new state has brought a new star for the flag. The first time the Stars and Stripes flew in a Flag Day celebration was in Hartford, Connecticut in 1861, the first summer of the Civil War. In the late 1800s, schools held Flag Day programs to contribute to the Americanization of immigrant children, and the observance caught on with individual communities. As a patriotic custom, the Stars and Stripes still flies in front of schools when classes are in session.
In 1916, the president proclaimed a nationwide observance of Flag Day, but it was not until 1949 that Congress voted for Flag Day to be a permanent holiday. On June 22, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt approved House Joint Resolution 303, codifying the existing customs and rules governing the display and use of the flag of the United States by civilians. The law included provisions of the code adopted by the National Flag Conference in 1923, with certain amendments and additions. When the 49th and 50th stars were added in 1959 and 1960 for Alaska and Hawaii, the standards of design became even more precise.
President Eisenhower issued Executive Order No. 10834 on August 21, 1959. A national banner with 50 stars became the official flag of the United States. The flag was raised for the first time at 12:01 a.m. on July 4, 1960 at the Fort McHenry National Monument in Baltimore, Maryland. The regulated design calls for seven red and six white stripes, with the red stripes at top and bottom. The union of navy blue fills the upper left quarter from the top to the lower edge of the fourth red stripe. The stars have one point up and are in nine horizontal rows. The odd-numbered rows have six stars. The even-numbered rows have five stars, centered diagonally between the stars in the longer rows.
The Flag Code was re-enacted, with minor amendments, as part of the Bicentennial celebration in 1976. In the 105th Congress, the Flag Code was removed from Title 36 of the United States Code and recodified as part of Title 4.
The size of the flag is determined by the exposed height of the flagpole from which it is flying. Flags flown from angled poles on homes and those displayed indoors are usually either 3' x 5' or 4' x 6'.
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This information is copied from Pages 3 through 6 of the United States Flag Manual, a publication distributed by the Military Salute Project. Click the following link to view or download the complete manual ...
militarysalute.proboards.com/thread/737/united-states-flag-manual
Before we became a nation, our land knew many flags. Long ago, the Norsemen probed our coastal waters sailing under the banner of the black raven. Columbus carried a Spanish flag across the seas. The Pilgrims carried the flag of Great Britain. The Dutch colonists brought their striped flag to New Amsterdam. The French explored the continent under the royal fleur-de-lis. Each native Indian tribe had its own totem and insignia. Immigrants of every race and nationality, in seeking a new allegiance, have brought their symbols of loyalty to our shores.
During the American Revolution, various banners were used by the not-yet-united colonies. A green pine tree with the motto An Appeal To Heaven was popular with our young Navy. The rattlesnake's warning, Don't Tread On Me, was displayed by aroused colonists along the Atlantic seaboard. The Moultrie Liberty flag, a large blue banner with a white crescent in the upper corner, rallied the defenders of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1776. The Bunker Hill flag was a blue banner with a white canton filled with a red cross and a small green pine. The flag of the maritime colony of Rhode Island bore a blue anchor under the word Hope. Strikingly similar to the Stars and Stripes was the flag carried by the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont at the battle of Bennington in August, 1777.
The first flag of the colonies to have any resemblance to the present Stars and Stripes was the Grand Union Flag, sometimes referred to as the Congress Colors, the First Navy Ensign, and the Cambridge Flag. When General George Washington took command of the Continental Army in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1776, he stood under the Grand Union Flag. The flag consisted of thirteen stripes, representing the thirteen colonies, alternately red and white, with a blue field in the upper left hand corner bearing the crosses of Saint George of England and Saint Andrew of Scotland.
As the flag of the revolution, it was used on many occasions. It was first flown by the ships of the Colonial Fleet on the Delaware River. It was raised aboard Captain Esek Hopkin's flag-ship Alfred by John Paul Jones, then a Navy lieutenant, on December 3, 1775. Later the flag was raised on the Liberty Pole at Prospect Hill, which was near George Washington's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was our unofficial national flag on July 4, 1776 and it remained the unofficial national flag and ensign of the Navy until June 1777 when the Continental Congress authorized the Stars and Stripes.
The Stars and Stripes originated as a result of a resolution adopted by the Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia on June 14, 1777. The resolution read ... Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field representing a new constellation. General George Washington said, "We take the stars from heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty."
The resolution gave no instruction as to how many points the stars should have, nor how the stars should be arranged on the blue union. Consequently, some flags had stars scattered on the blue field without any specific design, some arranged the stars in rows, and some in a circle. The first Continental Navy Stars and Stripes had the stars arranged in staggered formation in alternate rows of threes and twos on a blue field. Other Stars and Stripes flags had stars arranged in alternate rows of four, five and four. Some stars had six points while others had eight.
Strong evidence indicates that Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was responsible for the stars in the U.S. flag. At the time that the flag resolution was adopted, Hopkinson was the Chairman of the Continental Navy Board's Middle Department. Hopkinson also helped design other devices for the government, including the Great Seal of the United States.
The most popular flag, with the stars in a circle so that no state could claim precedence over another, is known as the Betsy Ross flag, in honor of the seamstress who is supposed to have sewn the first one, although there is no proof that she made the first Stars and Stripes. It is known that on May 29, 1777, the State Navy Board of Pennsylvania commissioned Betsy Ross to sew flags for Navy vessels. Legend credits Ross with having sewn the first flag to meet the specifications outlined by Congress, while changing the stars from six points to five to speed her work. The flag was first carried in battle at Brandywine, Pennsylvania in September 1777. It first flew over foreign territory in early 1778, at Nassau in the Bahama Islands, where Americans captured a fort from the British. The flag popularly known as the Betsy Ross Flag, which arranged the stars in a circle, did not appear until the early 1790s.
After Vermont and Kentucky became states in the 1790s, Congress approved adding two more stars and two more stripes to the group that represented the original 13 colonies. This flag was the official flag of our country from 1795 to 1818, and was prominent in many historic events. It was the first flag to be flown over a fortress of the Old World when American Marine and Naval forces raised it above the pirate stronghold in Tripoli on April 27, 1805. It was the ensign of American forces in the battle of Lake Erie in September of 1813, the flag that withstood enemy bombardment at Fort McHenry, Maryland on September 13 and 14, 1814, inspiring Francis Scott Key to write The Star-Spangled Banner, and it was flown by General Andrew Jackson at the battle for New Orleans in January, 1815.
Realizing the flag would become unwieldy with a stripe for each new state, Continental Navy Captain Samuel Reid suggested to Congress that the stripes remain thirteen in number to represent the thirteen colonies, and that a star be added to the blue field for each new state coming into the Union. On April 4, 1818, President James Monroe signed a bill requiring that the flag of the United States have a union of 20 stars, white on a blue field; that 13 stripes should be horizontal, alternately red and white; and that upon admission of each new State into the Union one star be added to the union of the flag on the fourth of July following its date of admission. The law did not specify color shades or arrangement of the stars, and wide variation persisted. During the Civil War, gold stars were more common than white and the stars sometimes appeared in a circle.
Since 1818, each new state has brought a new star for the flag. The first time the Stars and Stripes flew in a Flag Day celebration was in Hartford, Connecticut in 1861, the first summer of the Civil War. In the late 1800s, schools held Flag Day programs to contribute to the Americanization of immigrant children, and the observance caught on with individual communities. As a patriotic custom, the Stars and Stripes still flies in front of schools when classes are in session.
In 1916, the president proclaimed a nationwide observance of Flag Day, but it was not until 1949 that Congress voted for Flag Day to be a permanent holiday. On June 22, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt approved House Joint Resolution 303, codifying the existing customs and rules governing the display and use of the flag of the United States by civilians. The law included provisions of the code adopted by the National Flag Conference in 1923, with certain amendments and additions. When the 49th and 50th stars were added in 1959 and 1960 for Alaska and Hawaii, the standards of design became even more precise.
President Eisenhower issued Executive Order No. 10834 on August 21, 1959. A national banner with 50 stars became the official flag of the United States. The flag was raised for the first time at 12:01 a.m. on July 4, 1960 at the Fort McHenry National Monument in Baltimore, Maryland. The regulated design calls for seven red and six white stripes, with the red stripes at top and bottom. The union of navy blue fills the upper left quarter from the top to the lower edge of the fourth red stripe. The stars have one point up and are in nine horizontal rows. The odd-numbered rows have six stars. The even-numbered rows have five stars, centered diagonally between the stars in the longer rows.
The Flag Code was re-enacted, with minor amendments, as part of the Bicentennial celebration in 1976. In the 105th Congress, the Flag Code was removed from Title 36 of the United States Code and recodified as part of Title 4.
The size of the flag is determined by the exposed height of the flagpole from which it is flying. Flags flown from angled poles on homes and those displayed indoors are usually either 3' x 5' or 4' x 6'.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This information is copied from Pages 3 through 6 of the United States Flag Manual, a publication distributed by the Military Salute Project. Click the following link to view or download the complete manual ...
militarysalute.proboards.com/thread/737/united-states-flag-manual