Flag Day

Posted by Gordon on June 14, 2010 at 8:00pm















On Monday, our nation celebrates Flag Day, a time to pay tribute to the red, white and blue, the symbol of our country Americans have defended and died to protect.

A special law enacted in 1949 by the U.S. Congress made our flag much more than just a colorful, symbolic piece of cloth.

The Unites States Flag Code, as adopted by Congress, states, “The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing.”

The colors of the U.S. flag represent hardiness and valor (red), purity and innocence (white), and vigilance, perseverance and justice (blue).

The origins of Flag Day date back to June 14, 1777, in Philadelphia, when the Continental Congress passed a resolution specifying the flag carry 13 stripes and 13 stars.

In 1885, a Wisconsin school teacher arranged for his students to observe the resolution on June 14 and called it “Flag Birthday.”

In 1893, Philadelphia became the first city to celebrate Flag Day.

In 1894, New York became the first state to observe Flag Day.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson established a nationwide Flag Day.

In 1949, President Harry Truman signed into law an Act of Congress that National Flag Day be observed every June 14.



A little "Flag Trivia".

What colors and how much of each is used in national flags>?

http://shaheeilyas.com/flags/


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Alexander's Essay – June 10, 2010
The P. P.

'In God is Our Trust'
"Let us then ... under God, trust our cause to our swords." --Samuel Adams

Carrying our flag into battleIn advance of the anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, allow me to suggest another date that should be observed with equal reverence by all Patriots.

At the dawn of the American Revolution, on the first Patriots' Day (April 19, 1775), armed citizens formed colonial militias that constituted the frontline of our nation's defense.

However, with hostilities mounting, on June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress authorized the enlistment of some 27,000 colonial riflemen to defend the new nation, establishing the American Continental Army and, a day later, appointed George Washington as its commander in chief.

The 1st Continental Regiment consisted of 10 rifle companies from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, and they marched to Boston in support of the New England militia.

Fittingly, on June 14 two years later, the Second Continental Congress adopted the first flag of the United States, with the official entry reading, "Resolved that the flag of the thirteen United States be Thirteen stripes alternate red and white: that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."

For the next decade, American Patriots would defend the young nation against what seemed insurmountable odds. They were, of course, led by General Washington, who would, at the close of hostilities and upon the ratification of our Constitution, become our nation's first president.

Thus, June 14 of this year is both the 235th anniversary of the establishment of the United States Army, and the 233rd anniversary of the adoption of our flag, which has been carried into every battle since.

It was in a second conflict with the British, the War of 1812, that our national flag, flying over Fort McHenry overlooking Baltimore harbor, would give Francis Scott Key the inspiration to pen our National Anthem.

In 1814, James Madison authorized Key and John Stuart Skinner to seek an agreement with the British to secure an exchange of prisoners. Under a flag of truce, Key and Skinner met with Major General Robert Ross and Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane aboard the HMS Tonnant for negotiations. However, while onboard, Key and Skinner learned of British plans to attack Baltimore, and thus, were held captive.

From his vantage point onboard, Key was able to observe at the end of the first day of that campaign that Fort McHenry's "storm flag" was still flying into the night. He didn't know if his fellow Patriots had withstood the assault until, by the dawn's early light, he saw a much larger American flag had been raised victoriously over the fort.

On that day, Key, an amateur poet, penned "The Defence of Fort McHenry," later put to music as "The Star-Spangled Banner," and formally recognized as our National Anthem in 1931.

While the first verse of "The Star-Spangled Banner" is familiar to most Americans, it is the fourth and last verse that speaks most directly to the humbling legacy of American Patriots, who have stood in harm's way since 1775:

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!


"In God is our trust," was shortened to "In God We Trust" and established as our National Motto in 1956 by another Army general who went on to become president, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

That message, "In God We Trust," is the keystone of liberty, and our nation. But there are those who are endeavoring to remove it, and if they are allowed to succeed, our nation will collapse.