June 14th – Today is Flag Day in America by Kaye Spencer

Flag Day at Kaye's house

On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress authorized the 'stars and stripes' flag for the new United States. It wasn’t until 1916 that President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as flag day.

For years prior to the official declaration of Flag Day, several states recognized a flag day, but the dates were all different. Then in August of 1949, by an Act of Congress, National Flag Day was officially established on June 14th. However, it wasn’t designated as an official federal holiday.

The first official flag is often referred to as the Betsy Ross Flag.

13-star flag flying in San Francisco - attribution below

Since the Betsy Ross House is the traditional site of Philadelphia’s Flay Day observance, here is a picture of her house.

Betsy Ross House - attribution below

Stony Hill School in Waubeka, Wisconson was the site of the first time Flag Day was officially observed. A teacher named Bernard J. Cigrand is credited with this event.

Stony Hill School - attribution below

I came across an entertaining article in the Washington Post dated June 10, 2011 and written by Marc Leepson regarding five common myths about the first American Flag. I’ve summarized, and added to, Mr. Leepson’s article:

Myth 1 “Betsy Ross made the first American Flag.”

Some historians deny this claim, because of the lack of credible, written records to support it. These historians base their beliefs upon letters and the congressional record of the time, which indicated the designer of the first flag was possibly Francis Hopkinson, an original signer of the Declaration of Independence (New Jersey), who possessed artistic skills. He also designed the seals and flags for the Navy, as well as contributed to the official U.S. seal.

However, other historians believe Betsy has just as much claim to the legend as Hopkinson, because,
“Betsy was paid a ‘large sum of money from the Pennsylvania State Navy Board for making flags’”.
“George Ross, a member of the Flag committee, was the uncle of Betsy's late husband, John. This could be one reason why Betsy was chosen to make the first flag”.

Myth 2 “The red, white, and blue colors symbolize American sacrifice.”

It could be as simple as red, white, and blue were the colors of the first flag of the American colonies, known as the Continental Colors, and the color scheme carried through to the later flag designs. These colors originated with the colors of the Union Jack of England.

Myth 3 “The Pledge of Allegiance has long been recited in Congress and other governmental bodies.”

Documents show that the pledge was written in1892 by Francis Bellamy, a magazine editor for a Boston-based “The Youth’s Companion”, for a nationwide public school celebration commemorating the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival. It wasn’t until the Spanish American War in 1898 that it became a mandatory recitation in public school, and then only in New York. In 1942, Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance.

Myth 4 “It is illegal to burn the American flag.”

Until the Supreme Court ruled on a case in 1989 (Texas v. Johnson, which declared that federal and state laws that protect the flag are in violation of free-speech protections), it was illegal to burn the flag. However, this decision has undergone tests of constitutional legality over the years since then on the grounds of the First Amendment rights of free speech. So, right now, it is legal to use the American flag in acts considered to be in the realm of free speech.

Myth 5 “It’s okay to wear a Stars and Stripes T-shirt.”

…“The U.S. Flag Code frown on the use of the flag ‘for advertising purposes’…and more…”. But this code is essentially not enforced, because it is, as you’ve already realized, unenforceable. To quote Captain Hector Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean… “The code is more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules…”

For your listening—and American patriotic—pleasure, I’ll leave you with this gem.

Until next time,

Kaye Spencer

Writing through history one romance upon a time

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Images Attribution

13-star flag flying in San Francisco

By Makaristos - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4979676

Betsy Ross house
Coolcaesar at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

Stony Hill School
By Freekee/Kevin Hansen - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6938537

Resources, Quote Attributions, and Further Reading

Washington Post Flag Myths article
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-the-american-flag/2011/06/08/AG3ZSkOH_story.html?utm_term=.3870fa5955f9

Articles regarding the legality of flag desecration
Time Magazine: http://time.com/3907444/flag-supreme-court-history/ and http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/law-protects-flag-burning-united-states/story?id=43855624 )

ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/law-protects-flag-burning-united-states/story?id=43855624

Flag Day

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_Day_(United_States)

The Flag of the United States of America
Information: http://www.usflag.org/history/the13starflag.html
Images of the flag through history: http://www.usflagdepot.com/store/page8.html

US History website
http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagpics.html

Betsy Ross flag quote
http://historicphiladelphia.org/betsy-ross-house/flag/

Thinking About the American Flag...what do you know about its history? By Gail L. Jenner

Although the 4^th of July is usually part “work day” on our ranch (eg: raking or baling hay, irrigating, and/or hauling hay), the afternoon and evening is always a great time for our family. 

But after the work is done (or a portion of it!!), the fun begins: sometimes we go fishing; sometimes we get out tubes and rafts; occasionally we go up into the hills or out on a lake, but usually we end up with fireworks (which are legal here) and we usually have a BBQ or potluck. I make no less than 3 or 4 pies, including cream pies and/or rhubarb or apple or berry pies, and everyone brings their favorite dish. We traditionally make homemade ice cream and the kids love getting a chance to turn the crank (I used to love it when we had a milk cow and got fresh cream).

Still, as I was preparing food and getting the yard ready for this year’s celebration—including hanging some bunting and a few smaller flags—I began to wonder about some of the more obscure facts regarding our flag’s history. I decided I’d like to share something more than the few random facts we all “assume” to be true with our grandkids, so I sat down and scanned a couple books and the Internet. Of course I found some intriguing details.

Probably most of us assume we know some of the flag’s history; after all, didn’t Betsy Ross stitch it while suffering through the Revolutionary War? And the 13 stripes represent the original colonies. And didn’t a war-torn flag inspire the words of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” written by Francis Scott Key?

Well, Betsy was not the flag’s creator; the first flag was actually designed—not by Betsy Ross—but by Francis Hopkinson, a Congressman from New Jersey. Records from the Continental Congress reveal that Hopkinson clearly designed the flag. The “story” involving Betsy Ross did not emerge for another 94 years and was first told by one of her grandsons. Since there was no official flag during the first year of the United States, there were a great number of homespun flag designs, but it is generally accepted that the first flag had 13 stars arranged in a circle. And it is still referred to as the "Betsy Ross" flag!

  

It wasn’t until June 14, 1777 that the Continental Congress passed the first Flag Act, which stated: “Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.”

So while the flag had 13 stars on a blue background, and 13 stripes made of alternating red and white panels in the beginning, in 1794, two new stars were added—making 15—because Vermont and Kentucky had joined the United States. After that, new stars were added as new states were created, and July 4 was designated the official day to add any new stars. So, while there are now 50 stars on the blue background, the number of stars and stripes has remained fixed at 13 to symbolize the original colonies.

The colors of the flag are also symbolic: white represents purity and innocence; red represents courage and valor; and blue symbolizes justice, perseverance and vigilance. In addition, the stars were chosen to symbolize heaven and the nation’s “divine” goals, while the stripes represent rays of sunshine.

Interestingly, it was President Taft who, in 1912, authorized the flag’s standardized proportions and official arrangement of stars (with six rows of eight each). Until then, flags were often homemade and lacked a consistent design.

Than, in January 1959, President Eisenhower authorized rearranging the stars into seven rows, with seven stars each; however, in August 1959, he ordered that the stars be arranged in nine rows staggered horizontally and 11 rows staggered vertically.

Most interesting—and certainly not well known—it was a student, Robert G. Heft, who designed our present-day flag as a school assignment when Hawaii and Alaska were being considered for statehood. Incredibly, his teacher remarked that Robert’s sketch “lacked creativity” and gave it only a B-, then added that if his drawing was adopted by Congress, he would receive a higher mark. Robert sent his drawing off to his Congressional representative, and it ultimately became our national flag!

As to flying the flag, here are some considerations: When displaying the American flag there should always be some source of light—either sunlight or some other kind of light. This is why flags are often lowered at night and raised in the morning. And, of course, when lowering the flag, it should never touch the ground. Also, if the flag becomes too worn and cannot be restored to its “original condition,” it should be burned “with dignity,” or properly folded and sent to either the American Legion, the Boy Scouts, or the Girl Scouts—all organizations that practice proper flag retirement etiquette.
 

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