borne on the breast of an American eagle 

 without any other supporters, to denote that 

 the United States ought to reiy on their own 

 virtue. 



Reverse.— The pyramid signifies strengtn 

 and duration. The eye over it and the motto 

 allude to the many signal interpositions of 

 Providence in favor of the American cause. 

 The date underneath is that of the Declara- 

 tion of Independence, and the words under it 

 signify the beginning of the new American 

 era, which commences from that date. 



The reverse of the seal has never been cut 

 and has been allowed to go unused officially to 

 the present day. 



USES OF THE GREAT SEAI, 



When the Continental Congress made the 

 obverse of the great seal of the national arms 

 it intended that the device should pass into 

 common use among the people, as the flag has 

 done, and like the flag, the arms at first met 

 with general approval, which soon gave place 

 to an acceptance of it as an emblem of the 

 power and sovereignty of the United States. 



The seal itself has, of course, a very limited 

 use, which is strictly guarded by law. The 

 Secretary of State is its custodian, but even 

 he has no authority to affix it to any paper that 

 does not bear the President's signature. 



At the present time the seal of the United 

 States is affixed to the commissions of all 

 Cabinet officers and diplomatic and consular 

 officers who are nominated by the President 

 and confirmed by the Senate ; all ceremonious 

 communications from the President to the 

 heads of foreign governments; all treaties, 

 conventions, and formal agreements of the 

 President with foreign powers ; all proclama- 

 tions by the President; all exequaturs to for- 

 eign consular officers in the United States who 

 are appointed by the heads of the governments 

 which they represent; to warrants by the 

 President to receive persons surrendered by 

 foreign governments under extradition trea- 

 ties; and to all miscellaneous commissions of 

 civil officers appointed by the President, by and 

 with the advice and consent of the Senate, 

 whose appointments are not now especially di- 

 rected by law to be signed under a different 

 seal. 



4. Jack. — Vessels at anchor fly the union 

 jack from the jackstaff (the staff at the bow) 

 from morning to evening colors. The jack 

 hoisted at the fore mast is a signal for a pilot 

 (220). A gun may be fired to call attention 

 to it. Ploisted at the mizzen mast or at a yard 

 arm it denotes that a general court martial or 

 a court of inquiry is in session. 



When a diplomatic official of the United 

 States of and above the rank of charge d'af- 

 faires pays an official visit afloat in a boat of 

 the navy, a union jack of a suitable size is car- 

 ried on a staff in the bow. When the Naval 

 Governor of Guam, Tutuila, or the Virgin 

 Islands of the United States embarks in a boat, 

 within the limits of his government, for the 

 purpose of paying visits of ceremony in his 

 official capacity as Governor, a union jack of 

 suitable size is carried on a staff in the bow of 

 the boat. The union jack at the main was the 



flag of the Secretary of the Navy from 1869 

 to July 4, 1874, when the present flag (49) 

 came into use. 



When worn out, jacks are surveyed and 

 burned in the same manner as ensigns. The 

 proper size of jack to display with an ensign 

 is that corresponding in dimension to the union 

 of that ensign (see drawing, page 312). Yachts 

 may display the union jack while at anchor at 

 the jackstaff from 8 a. m. to sunset, when wash 

 clothes are not triced up. 



5. Seal of the President. — This is the per- 

 sonal seal of the President, and the press from 

 which it is made has been in use for many 

 years. The device is to be seen in the Presi- 

 dent's flag (2), in bronze, in the floor of the 

 entrance corridor of the White House and in 

 the favorite stick-pin of the President. 



6. Our First Stars and Stripes, adopted by 

 act of Congress June 14, 1777 (see page 297)0 

 In its resolution Congress did not direct a spe- 

 cific arrangement of the thirteen stars. In the 

 navy it became customary to place the stars so 

 as to form the crosses of St. George and St. 

 Andrew, an arrangement distinctly illustrated 

 in Rhode Island's banner (396). 



THE FLAG THAT INSPIRED THE 

 SPANGLED BANNER" 



STAR 



7. The Flag with 15 Stripes and 15 

 Stars. — When Vermont entered the Union 

 (March 4, 1791), followed by Kentucky (June 

 I, 1792), it was felt that the new States should 

 have the same representation in the design of 

 the flag that the original thirteen States pos- 

 sessed, and Congress accordingly passed the 

 following act, which was approved by Presi- 

 dent Washington on January 13, 1794 : 



"Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the 

 first day of May, one thousand seven hundred 

 and ninety-five, the flag of the United States 

 be fifteen stripes, alternate red and white, and 

 that the Union be fifteen stars, white in a blue 

 field." 



In this flag the stars were arranged in three 

 parallel rows of five each, with the blue field 

 resting on the fifth red stripe. This was the 

 national flag for twenty-three years. It was in 

 use during the war of 1812, and, in September, 

 1814, waving over Fort McHenry, it inspired 

 Francis Scott Key to write the "Star Spangled 

 Banner." Key was aide to General Smith at 

 Baltimore and had gone aboard H. M. S. Min- 

 den in the harbor to arrange an exchange of 

 prisoners. While being detained pending the 

 bombardment on the morning of September 

 14, 1814, he wrote the anthem. 



The arrangement of the stars in the Fort 

 McHenry flag is the navy arrangement, that 

 particular flag of immense size having been 

 specially made by Mrs. Mary Pickerskill under 

 the direction of Commodore Barry and Gen- 

 eral Striker. The flag is now in the National 

 Museum at Washington (see page 289). The 

 missing star is said to have been cut out and 

 sent to President Lincoln. 



This is the flag that encouraged our brave 

 lads in our war against the Barbary pirates. 

 It was the first ensign to be hoisted over a fort 

 of the Old World. On April 27, 1S05, after a 



306 



