FLAG 



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. FLAG 



combined the crosses of Saint Andrew and 

 Saint George, symbolizing the union of Scot- 

 land and England, and it bore thirteen alter- 

 nate red and white stripes. The king's colors 

 on the blue field showed that the colonies still 

 acknowledged the sovereignty of Great Britain, 

 and the stripes represented the thirteen 

 colonies. 



After the adoption of the Declaration of 

 Independence in 1776, it was felt that a national 

 emblem of union and independence should 

 be chosen, and on June 14, 1777, the following 

 resolution was adopted in Congress: 



"Resolved, that the flag of the Thirteen United 

 States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate white 

 and red, and that the Union be thirteen white 

 stars on a blue field." 



In this resolution were born the national 

 Stars and Stripes. The flag then adopted had 

 a circle of thirteen stars on a blue field. The 

 story has come down that Mrs. Betsy Ross, 

 flagmaker, residing at 239 Arch Street, Phila- 

 delphia, made the first flag and suggested that 

 the stars be five-pointed. The Ross home is 

 still standing, preserved as a memorial. A pic- 

 ture of the Ross home appears in the article 

 PHILADELPHIA, page 4622. 



John Fiske, the historian, says that the first 

 American flag with stars and stripes that was 

 ever floated to the breeze was one "hastily 

 extemporized out of a white skirt and an old 

 blue jacket, and 

 some strips of 

 red cloth from 

 the petticoat of a 

 soldier's wife." 

 This crude em- 

 blem of a new 

 nation was raised 

 above Fort Stan- 

 wix in August, 

 1777. 



The gallant 

 Paul Jones was 

 the first of the 

 naval heroes to 

 make the star- 

 spangled banner 

 a symbol of glory. 

 Placed in command of the Ranger, on the 

 same day the flag was adopted by Congress, 

 he sailed for Portsmouth, N. H., on the Fourth 

 of July following, to raise the flag on his 

 ship. As the naval committee presented the 

 banner to him he said, "That flag and I are 

 twins, born the same hour. We cannot be 



THE BETSY ROSS FLAG 



parted in life or death. So long as we can 

 float we shall float together." In February, 

 1778, his flag received from the French fleet 

 the first salute given the Stars and Stripes 

 by a foreign nation, and in the following April, 

 when the Ranger met and conquered the 

 British man-of-war Drake, the flag floated for 

 the first time in a naval battle. 



In 1794 Congress ordered that after May 1, 

 1795, the flag should bear fifteen stripes, alter- 

 nate red and white, and that there should be 

 fifteen white stars on the blue field. This was 

 done so that Vermont and Kentucky, which 

 had been recently added to the Union, might 

 be represented in the national banner. In 1818 

 Congress passed an act providing for the addi- 

 tion of one star to the flag whenever a new 

 state should be admitted to the Union, and 

 decreeing that henceforth the number of hori- 

 zontal stripes should be but thirteen. It was 

 decided that each star should be added on the 

 Fourth of July following the admission of the 

 state. At that time the character of the flag 

 was fixed once for all, and stars have been 

 added from time to time until the number 

 is now forty-eight. The thirteen red and white 

 stripes the two outer ones red symbolize the 

 original states that won American independence. 



Besides the national emblem, there are 

 various other standards used in different 

 departments of the national government. The 

 revenue flag, consisting of sixteen perpendicular 

 stripes, the flags of the admirals and other com- 

 manding naval officers, and the President's flag, 

 are variations of the "stars and stripes." 



What the Flag Stands For. In the years 

 that have passed since the United States 

 adopted the Stars and Stripes as its emblem, 

 the flag has become to the American people 

 a symbol of national growth, power and influ- 

 ence, of union and of liberty. What the flag 

 stands for in the hearts of the people has 

 been admirably expressed by Henry Holcomb 

 Bennett in the following lines: 



Hats off ! Along the street there comes 

 A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums, 

 A flash of color beneath the sky ; 

 Hats off ! The flag Is passing by ! 



Blue and crimson and white It shines, 

 Over the steel-tipped ordered lines. 

 Hats off ! The colors before us fly ; 

 But more than the flag Is passing by. 



Sign of a nation, great and strong 



To ward her people from foreign wrong ; 



Pride and glory, honor, all 



Live In the colors to stand or fall. 



