National flag

“ Today, the men and women of the United States Armed Forces bear our flag as they serve bravely around the world. The flag is still more than a historical symbol: it is part of our culture. In our schools children pledge allegiance to our flag and recite the ideals upon which our Nation was founded. Families sit on their front porches under a billowing Stars and Stripes. And each day as the flag is raised above military installations and government buildings, we are reminded of the great sacrifices that have been made in defense of our Nation. ”

“ To the true patriot of every country the national flag must be a subject of pride. If, as a French writer observes, it does not always lead him to victory, it inspires him to fight well, and if need be to die well. "We pay to it," says the same writer, "royal honours. When it is paraded—in rags it may be, and with faded colours, bearing in letters of gold the names of victories—the troops present arms, the officers salute it with the sword, and the white heads of veteran generals are uncovered and bent before the ensign." To the soldier its loss is one of the greatest calamities. ”

“ This may be seen in Fig. 90, the noblest flag that flies under heaven.
Though the National Flag is primarily just so much silk or bunting, its design and colouring are full of meaning: and though its prime cost may be but a few shillings, its value is priceless, for the national honour is enwrapped in its folds, and the history of centuries is figured in the symbolism of its devices. It represents to us all that patriotism means. It is the flag of freedom and of the greatest empire that the world has ever known. ”

“ When we honor our flag we honor what we stand for as a Nation-freedom, equality, justice, and hope. Flag Day and National Flag Week are our traditional means to commemorate the Nation's beliefs as symbolized by the Stars and Stripes. In more recent times, the twenty-one days from Flag Day through Independence Day have been set aside as a period to honor America during which Americans reflect upon the Nation's character, heritage, fortifying principles and future well-being. ”

“ Lessons are taught which may be deeply impressed upon the minds of our children, so that by reading the history of their nation in its folds they may endeavour to live lives worthy of the ideals of their [Pg 216] national flag, and frame their own characters and the character of their empire by its lofty teachings.
That it is a beautiful and easily distinguished flag is admitted on all hands, but it has the still further quality, of immeasurable value in a national flag, that its parts and colours tell the history of the nation whose emblem it is. ”

“ With all these glorious deeds, and others that must necessarily follow, let us as a grateful, patriotic people see to it that the birthplace of our nation’s flag be preserved as a holy shrine.
With the view of making the movement a popular one, arrangements have been made to have all Americans, of every shade of religious and political opinion, affiliate alike, and by their participation to become the preservers of the birthplace of the “Stars and Stripes.” ”

“ Our long national journey has brought the United States safely to a new century and to a position of unprecedented leadership in the world. Throughout that journey, one symbol has endured as a badge of honor for every American and a beacon of hope for the oppressed: the flag of the United States. ”

“ By honoring our flag, we pay due respect to the patriots and heroes who have laid down their lives in defense of the liberty it represents. As we raise the flag, we stand and salute or place our hands on our hearts, and we recall the fundamental truths upon which this Nation was founded: that we are all created equal and that just government derives its power from the people. ”

“ As it is an insult to hoist one national flag below another, it is a rigid law that in all official decorations national flags may not be so placed, but enthusiastic and irresponsible burgesses, in the depth of their ignorance, ignore all such considerations of international courtesy, and in the length of a short street commit sufficient indiscretion to give umbrage to all mankind. ”

“ It is not that we have not been called upon to defend it and the underlying principles for which it stands, for to-day as we celebrate the anniversaries of victories on land and sea we cannot but recall, with mingled pride and pleasure, the achievements won under its glorious folds, and when our patriots, inspired by a God-like devotion to flag and country, performed deeds of daring that mark their efforts as the most signal ever accomplished under any flag by any heroes of any nation. ”

“ No national flag is ever hung above the flag of another nation. When the flags of two or more nations are displayed they should be on separate staffs or on separate halyards, and on the same level. In America the Stars and Stripes are always given the place of honor on the right. ”

“ The striped Union flag was the colonial colors, both at sea and land, but there was also, as we have seen, a standard such as was used by the commander-in-chief of the American navy, being a yellow field, with a lively representation of a rattlesnake in the middle, in the attitude of going to strike, and the words underneath, "Don't tread on me." ”

“ No damaged, defiled, faded or substandard National Flag shall be raised, displayed or used, and no National Flag shall be displayed upside down, inserted upside down, or raised, displayed or used in any other manners that impair the dignity of the National Flag. ”

“ The large picture of Washington, by Stewart, which is now in the east room, at the time of the bombardment by the British, was taken out of its frame by Mrs. Dolly Madison, wife of the president, and sent to a secure place across the river.
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This flag of forty-five stars, this flag of our country, is our inspiration. It kindles in our hearts patriotic feelings, it carries our thoughts and our minds forward in the cause of liberty and right. On sea and on land, wherever the star spangled banner waves, it thrills the heart of every true American with pride. ”

“ The use of the stripes, besides indicating the union of the above flags, for the purpose before indicated, would, as a badge of distinction for the Great Union Flag of the colonies, have carried the minds of those who were marshalled under it back to the moment when the tocsin of war sounded at Lexington—called them, "generals" as well as "private men,"—in the garbs in which they were pursuing their peaceful avocations, to arms in defence of liberty. ”

“ Adopting these general principles, we find ourselves, in attempting to give a satisfactory account of the origin, adoption, and meaning of the devices embodied in the National Flag of the United States, obliged to describe the principal flags displayed during the Revolution, which resulted in the independence of those States ”

“ We suppose the circle of stars was preferred to the Lyra because it indicated the perpetuity of the Union, which was distinctly intimated by the Rattlesnake Standard, laid aside when the flag of the United States, commonly called the Stars and Stripes, was adopted. ”

“ At the White House, at our homes, churches, offices, and schools, in our town squares and military installations at home and abroad, our flag celebrates our independence and highlights our resolve to defend and protect the country and the values that we hold dear. ”

“ The newspapers commonly bore the device of a disjointed snake, represented as divided into thirteen portions. Each portion bearing the initials of one of the colonies, and under it the motto, "Join, or die." Thus impressed, we can readily perceive how naturally they seized upon the flag in use in the mother country and its dominions, as an emblem of union among the members of that mother country, to indicate the necessity of it among the colonies, and, by displaying it from liberty-poles, &c., indicated the object for which union was necessary, viz.: to secure the liberty of British subjects. ”

“ The respective wearers of the white and tricolor cockades would be more willing to receive each other’s swords into their bosoms than to exchange their decorations. A national flag is a few square yards of coarse bunting; but associations invest it which touch whatever is strongest and deepest in national character. ”

“ Within the last few years special flags have been designed for the President, the Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of War. The President’s flag is a very beautiful blue banner, in the center of which is a spread eagle bearing the United States shield on its breast, with the thirteen stars in a half circle overhead. ”

“ Under its influence the arts and sciences have been fostered, commerce has expanded and education has been made universal. It waves for the right and the harbors of the globe will salute this banner as a harbinger of progress and peace.
The youngest nation has the oldest flag.
It is of historical interest that our flag is older than the present flag of Great Britain, which was adopted in 1801, and it is nine years older than the flag of Spain, which was adopted in 1785. ”

“ The history of our flag from its inception, in fact, the inception itself, has been a source of much argument and great diversity of opinion. Many theories and mystifications have gone forth, mingled with a few facts, giving just enough color of truth to make them seem plausible. ”

“ I have before me "The Queen's Regulations and Orders for the Army," issued by the Commander-in-chief, in which flags which can be flown only on shore are confounded with flags which can be flown nowhere but on board ship. Yet the subject is really an interesting one, and, connected as it is with national history, it is deserving of a little study.
Flags are of many kinds, and they are put to many uses. They are the representatives of nations; they [pg 13] distinguish armies and fleets, and to insult a flag is to insult the nation whose ensign it is. ”

“ What do you think of a flag with a white ground, a tree in the middle, the motto, 'Appeal to Heaven?' This is the flag of our floating batteries." To which Colonels Glover and Moylan replied, October 21, 1775: "That as Broughton and Selman, who sailed that morning, had none but their old colors, they had appointed the signal by which they could be known by their friends to be 'the ensign up to the maintopping lift." ”

“ We observe the reference to the Sacred Volume in the device for the reverse of the proposed Seal. May not the idea of stars, as the representatives of dependent States, have been borrowed from the same source, and applied in the case of the flag as States dependent upon union, and thus constituting a constellation? ”

“ When the Governor of a State, territory, or possession, or the Mayor of the District of Columbia, issues a proclamation under the preceding sentence that the National flag be flown at half-staff in that State, territory, or possession or in the District of Columbia because of the death of a member of the Armed Forces, the National flag flown at any Federal installation or facility in the area covered by that proclamation shall be flown at half-staff consistent with that proclamation. ”

“ It is very easy to make; it is entirely different from any other national flag. The three colours of which it is composed—red, white, and blue—are the true Republican Colours; they are emblematic of the three great virtues—valour, purity, and truth. Naval men assure us that it can be recognised at a great distance. The colours contrast admirably, and are lasting. In effect and appearance it must speak for itself." The flag, thus highly and justly commended, was first hoisted on March 4th, 1861, at Montgomery. It is represented in Fig. ”

“ A reason for this color being a favorite in New England, may perhaps be found in the circumstance, that, in 1679, when the banner of the league and covenant was raised in Scotland, it was a red flag, the borders of which were edged with blue. ”