A
HISTORY OF OUR AMERICAN FLAG
First
of all, on this, the 249th year of our country’s Independence, I
want to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July!
Be
sure to fly your American Flag proudly!
Our
first National Flag, the GRAND UNION FLAG, was displayed on January 1, 1776 in
Boston by General George Washington, the organizer of the Colonial Army under
the directive of the young Continental Congress.
For
the colonists, the GRAND UNION FLAG signified their loyalty to the Crown of
England and their New Union.
The
progress of the Revolution and the adoption of the Declaration of Independence
soon outdated the symbolism of the GRAND UNION FLAG. On June 14,1777 the first
congressional legislation creating an American flag was enacted.
“RESOLVED: that the flag of the United States be 13 stripes alternate red and white, that the Union be 13 stars white in a blue field representing a new constellation.” Thus, was born a new Nation under the STARS AND STRIPES.
The
NEW CONSTELLATION FLAG with its 13 stars and 13 stripes, represented the
original thirteen founding states of the Union: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New
Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island.
Since
the Flag Act of 1777 did not provide for the arrangement of the stars in the
flag’s union, over 20-star designs have been documented for the NEW
CONSTELLATION FLAG as being used in the eighteen-year period from 1777 through
1795.
This
included the popular Betsy Ross design.
January
13, 1794, President George Washington signed a bill that provided by Act of
Congress, alterations in the Flag of the United States. The bill stated that on
and after May1,1795, “the flag of the United States be fifteen stripes,
alternate red and white and that the union of fifteen stars, white in a blue
field.”
This
SECOND NATIONAL FLAG recognized two new states that had been admitted into the Union,
Vermont and Kentucky.
This new flag also inspired Francis Scott Key
to write the Star Spangled Banner, and was our national flag for nearly a
quarter of a century until the year 1818.
On
April 4th, 1818, President James Monroe signed a bill into law as
“An Act To Establish The Flag Of The United States” which provided for “a
return to a flag of thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; and a
Union to have twenty stars, white in a blue field.” The Act also provided “That
on the admission of every new State into the Union, one star be added to the
union of the flag; and that such addition shall take effect on the fourth of
July succeeding such admission.”
All
succeeding design changes were due to the addition of stars to the flag’s
union, upon admission of a new state to the Union.
The
forty-eight star flag WAS THE LONGEST LIVED OF ALL THE Stars and Stripes with
official status of 47 years, from 1912 to 1959. Eight American Presidents
served in office under this flag and three wars were fought under its banner.
1960—PRESENT
