Friday, June 15, 2007

A Day Late - Flag Day



Yesterday, June 14 was Flag Day, a day I completely forgot until I went to visit Trav's blog and was reminded. Thanks for the reminder, Trav. Even if I'm a day late I can't let it go by without a post.

Flag Day is the day we celebrate when the official adoption of the Stars and Strips as the Flag of our country. On May 30th of 1916 President Woodrow Wilson issued an official proclamation declaring June 14 as Flag Day. But it wasn't until President Truman signed an Act of Congress on August 3, 1949 that June 14 officially became Flag Day.



This is the first official flag of the United States. 13 stars to symbolize the 13 colonies. It became the official flag on June 14, 1777. Who created the first flag? Some credit goes to Congressman Francis Hopkinson, but we also all know the story of Betsy Ross. George Washington was the only president to serve under this flag.

The Meaning Of Our Flag
Henry Ward Beecher

If one asks me the meaning of our flag, I say to him: It means just what Concord and Lexington meant, what Bunker Hill meant. It means the whole glorious Revolutionary War. It means all that the Declaration of Independence meant. It means all that the Constitution of our people, organizing for justice, for liberty and for happiness, meant.

Under this banner rode Washington and his armies. Before it Burgoyne laid down his arms. It waved on the highlands at West Point. When Arnold would have surrendered these valuable fortresses and precious legacies, his night was turned into day and his treachery was driven away by beams of light from this starry banner.

It cheered our army, driven out from around New York, and in their painful pilgrimages through New Jersey. This banner streamed in light over the soldiers' heads at Valley Forge and at Morristown. It crossed the waters rolling with ice at Trenton, and when its stars gleamed in the morning with a victory, a new day of hope dawned on the despondency of this nation.

Our Flag carries American ideas, American history and American feelings. Beginning with the Colonies, and coming down to our time, in its sacred heraldry, in its glorious insignia, it has gathered and stored chiefly this supreme idea: divine right of liberty in man. Every color means liberty; every thread means liberty; every form of star and beam or stripe of light means liberty - not lawlessness, but organized, institutional liberty - liberty through law, and laws for liberty!

This American Flag was the safeguard of liberty. Not an atom of crown was allowed to go into its insignia. Not a symbol of authority in the ruler was permitted to go into it. It was an ordinance of liberty by the people, for the people. That it meant, that it means, and, by the blessing of God, that it shall mean to the end of time!


"I was born an American; I live an American; I shall die an American; and I intend to perform the duties incumbent upon me in that character to the end of my career. I mean to do this with absolute disregard of personal consequences."
- Daniel Webster




A personal note: I get chills whenever I see the American Flag. It means so much, there is so much history in that flag. So many people, men and women, gave their lives defending it. Freedom is sewn into the stitches of that flag. There is no greater symbol for our land of the free and home of the brave.

1 comment:

Travis Cody said...

Many people from other countries don't understand why our Flag is so important to us. This post explains it.

Thanks - and a day late never hurt anyone, especially with a post this good.


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