OUR FLAG

THE FLAG, A HISTORY:
The Flag is not only an emblem of the Country. In its own way, it is a history of the Country, and when we have learned what its symbols and colors signify, we are able to read its story just as we would the pages of history. Every part, every color, of the Flag had a world of meaning to those who arranged them as we see them. Its makers intended the Flag to tell a story to their sons and daughters down through all ages. When you have learned to read that story, it will thrill you just as it thrilled those who gave us the Flag.

THE STRIPES:
The thirteen red and white stripes recall to us the history of that long, bitter, eight-year struggle in which the thirteen colonies fought and stood side by side for freedom, exemplifying the principle that “In union there is strength,” and so it is that these thirteen stripes, standing side by side to-day, symbolize the thirteen colonies standing together, side by side, during the years of struggle, suffering and sacrifice that marked the birth of our Nation. These stripes have never been changed and never will be. Side by side they will remain for all time, a lasting emblem by which we commemorate and honor the heroic founders of our nation.

THE STARS:
Each star is an emblem to record a great event in the history of the Country. Each tells the story of a great and sovereign State which has entered our Union. The first thirteen stars, representing the thirteen original States, stood for the work of our revolutionary Forefathers. The other stars stand for the work of those who have followed in their footsteps. Each added star has its story to tell of struggle and toil, of danger and hardship, of suffering and privation, to win a State from the wilderness and present it to the Union. Our revolutionary Forefathers were proud of the history which they recorded on their Flag. It was a glorious banner to leave to their Country. We who follow cannot add other banners, but we have recorded the history of our work on that same banner by stars which we have added in the blue field.

RED FOR COURAGE:
The red proclaims the courage which the men of our race have always shown, the courage that inspires men to face danger and to do what is right. When we look at those red stripes, we recall the thousands of courageous deeds which have been done under our Flag. There is hardly a spot in this broad land which does not bear silent witness to some heroic deed over which our Flag has flown. There is not a sea on the globe on which our Flag has not been unfurled over men who feared no one and hesitated at nothing when honor and duty called them to the task. In three-quarters of the world, that Flag has been hoisted over people for whose freedom brave men have laid down their lives.
It has been carried to the forefront of a great army of toiling men and women which has made its way slowly, year by year, step by step, from ocean to ocean, across this great continent. Each step has marked a struggle, often a battle, which called for courage on the part of those carrying our Flag victoriously westward.
Those victories of peace have often been much greater than those of war. Certainly they have required as much courage on the part of those who have carried the Flag, and they have been victories which have counted heavily in making the Country what it is.

WHITE FOR LIBERTY:
General Washington once described the Flag by saying, “We take the star from heaven, the red from the Mother Country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty.” So we see that those who designed the Flag meant the white stripes to stand for liberty. Those white stripes in our Flag mark it as the emblem of the land of the free, the Country to which the oppressed of all the world may come and enjoy equality and liberty.
They also tell the story of a great struggle in the name of liberty, the great Civil War, in which the country was almost torn asunder in order to free a people who had been enslaved. They also tell the more glorious story of patriotic men and women, who, after the war, joined hands for the second time in the history of our Country to reunite it and make it greater than it had ever been.

BLUE FOR LOYALTY:
The blue in our Flag stands for loyalty. It is the blue of the heavens, the true blue. It tells the story of thousands of men and women who have been loyal to their Country through thick and thin, through suffering and hardship, of men and women who have hesitated at no sacrifice, even of their lives, when their Country has demanded it of them.

WHAT THE FLAG STANDS FOR:
Altogether, the Flag stands for freedom and equality in every sense of the word. It is the banner of a people who still cheerfully lay down their lives in the defense of right, justice and freedom. It is the emblem by which we proclaim to the world that this is the land of the “Square deal” and “The home of the brave and the land of the free.”
The Flag is an emblem of true patriotism, the patriotism of deeds—not words—the patriotism of courage, of loyalty, of devotion to freedom, justice and humanity, the patriotism of men who have lived and died—not for themselves but for the glory of their Country.

THE FLAG’S MESSAGE:
Down through the years in which the Flag has flown over us, it has been bearing a message for each of us. Whenever we think of our Country as being great, the Flag tells us why it is great—because patriotic men and women have worked and struggled to make it great. Whenever we think of our country as being good to live in, the Flag tells us why it is so—because men gave up their lives in defense of liberty and right and justice, and made it possible for us to enjoy these blessings. Such is the message that the Flag has for each and everyone of us, and such is the message it will take to our children and our children’s children.

THE FLAG’S PLEA:
When we look at the Flag and in its stars and stripes, and in its red and its white and its blue, we read its story and hear its message; when we contemplate what it all means and stands for; when we think at what cost of life and sacrifice the Flag to-day flies over us, it mutely entreats us to cherish it, to keep it as it has been handed down to us, and to DEFEND it.

WHAT IS YOUR ANSWER TO THIS SILENT PLEA OF OUR FLAG?

ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF “OLD GLORY”

In 1831, as Master of the brig Charles Daggett, about to set sail for a voyage around the world, from Salem, Mass., Captain Driver was presented by the citizens with a large bunting flag in commendation of his services upon the sea and his well known love for his country’s emblem. This flag, when presented, was rolled in the form of a triangle and the halyards bent. A young sailor stepping forward said: “In ancient times, when an ocean voyage was looked upon with superstitious dread, it was the custom on the eve of departure to roll the banner in form of a triangle. When ready and bent like this, a priest stepped forward and taking the banner in his hand, sprinkled it with consecrated water and dedicated it to ‘God, the Father; God, the Son; and God, the Holy Ghost,’ turning the point of the triangle upward at the name of each, thus calling in that sacred unity of Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, to bless the National Emblem and prosper the voyagers and their friends.” The flag thus consecrated was then hoisted to the masthead, with glistening eyes. The Captain watched the hoisting of the flag; and as it fell into position at the masthead of his ship and the colors unfurled to the breeze, he shouted: “I’ll call her Old Glory, boys, Old Glory!” He always carried Old Glory with him as a sacred relic, carefully deposited in a heavy brass-bound camphorwood sea chest, that accompanied him on all his voyages.

SALUTING THE FLAG & THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

I found this in ‘The Patriotic Reader’ dated 1917. I thought it was interesting how we use to salute the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance.

Pledge of Allegiance

(Right hand lifted, palm downward to a line with the forehead and close to it, standing thus, all repeat together slowly

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands: One Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All.”

(At the words “to my Flag,” the right hand is extended gracefully, palm upward, towards the Flag and remains in this gesture to the end of the affirmation; whereupon all hands immediately drop to the side.)

~~Patriotic Reader 1917~~

I found on a few websites (one is here), that this was how the flag was saluted until the war. Then it was found to be too close to the way the Nazi’s salute. Because of this, it was changed to placing the right hand over the heart.

Later, in 1823-1824, ‘my Flag’ was changed to ‘the Flag of the United States of America.’ And in 1954 ‘under God’ was added after the words ‘One Nation.’

American Flag Lapbook (160)

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