RightSideNews.com
In preparation for annual observance, June 14th - U.S. National Flag Day
According to legend, in 1776, George Washington commissioned Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross to create a flag for the new nation. The American flag, in its current form, first flew over the Capitol on April 12, 1818. The flag has been altered twenty-seven times over the years. The current version dates to July 4, 1960, when Hawaii became the 50th state. (Just for the record, President Obama, there are still only 50 states in the United States of America)
Since 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential proclamation declaring June 14 Flag Day, Americans have commemorated the adoption of the Stars and Stripes by celebrating June 14 as Flag Day.
Continued expansion of the Union meant Congress soon again faced the prospect of adding to the number of the flag's stars and stripes. Thus, in 1818, Congress settled on the expediency of altering the flag according to its present formula whereby stripes represent the original thirteen colonies, and stars are coincident with the number of states in the Union. The Independence Day following the admission of a State was set as the occasion for adding new stars to the flag. With the admission of Hawaii, the fiftieth star was added to the flag on July 4, 1960.
While June 14th is Flag Day, it is appropriate to include the history of our American National Anthem, as it was written, being inspired by Old Glory, as she flew atop the rampart of Fort McHenry.
This anonymous speaker relates a moving rendition of the "Story of the National Anthem", and the flag that inspired it.
The lyrics come from a poem written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key, a then 35-year-old amateur poet who wrote "Defence of Fort McHenry", after seeing the bombardment of Fort McHenry at Baltimore, Maryland, by Britis Royal Navy ships in the Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812. While Francis Scott Key was involved in the prisoner release negotiations, it is uncertain that he was aboard a British ship when the bombardment of Fort McHenry began. Also the "storm flag" which flew through the night (and was severely tattered from the barrage) was said to have been replaced for the morning by the large flag which had been specifically commissioned to be large enough "that the British could see it for miles". The poem was set to the tune of a popular British drinking song, written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a London social club. "The Anacreontic Song" (or "To Anacreon in Heaven"), set to various lyrics, was already popular in the United States. Set to Key's poem and renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner", it would soon become a well-known American patriotic song. With a range of one and a half octaves, it is known for being difficult to sing. Although the song has four stanzas, only the first is commonly sung today, with the fourth ("O thus be it ever when free men shall stand ...") added on more formal occasions.
"The Star-Spangled Banner" was recognized for official use by the Navy in 1889 and the President in 1916, and was made the national anthem by a congressional resolution on March 3, 1931 (46 Stat. 1508, codified at 36 U.S.C. § 301), which was signed by President Herbert Hoover.
As they do each year, the U.S. House of Representatives, on June 8th of this year, passed the following Resolution:
H. Res. 420
In the House of Representatives, U. S.,
June 8, 2009.
Whereas Flag Day is celebrated annually on June 14, the anniversary of the official adoption of the American flag by the Continental Congress in 1777;
Whereas on June 14, 1777, in order to establish an official flag for the new Nation, the Continental Congress passed the first Flag Act, which stated,
Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation'';
Whereas the second Flag Act, signed January 13, 1794, provided for 15 stripes and 15 stars after May 1795;
Whereas the Act of April 4, 1818, which provided for 13 stripes and one star for each State, to be added to the flag on July 4 following the admission of each new State, was signed by President James Monroe;
Whereas in an Executive order dated June 24, 1912, President William Howard Taft established the proportions of the flag and provided for arrangement of the stars in 6 horizontal rows of 8 each, a single point of each star to be upward;
Whereas in an Executive order dated January 3, 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower provided for the arrangement of the stars in 9 rows staggered horizontally and 11 rows of stars staggered vertically;
Whereas the first celebration of the American flag is believed to have been introduced by Bernard Cigrand, a Wisconsin school teacher, who arranged for his pupils at Stony Hill School in Waubeka to celebrate June 14 as Flag Birthday'' in 1885;
Whereas on June 14, 1894, the Governor of New York ordered that the American flag be displayed at all public buildings in the State, prompting many State and local governments to begin observing Flag Day;
Whereas President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first nationwide Flag Day in 1916;
Whereas in 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed legislation requesting National Flag Day be observed annually;
Whereas the United States flag is a symbol of our great Nation and its ideals;
Whereas in times of national crisis, Americans look to the United States flag as a symbol of hope, courage, and freedom;
Whereas the United States flag is universally honored;
Whereas the United States flag honors the men and women of the Armed Forces who have given their life in the defense of the United States;
Whereas the United States flag serves as a treasured symbol of the loss of loved ones to the countless families of those who died in defense of our Nation; and
Whereas June 14, 2009, is recognized as Flag Day:
Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives celebrates
the United States flag and supports the goals and ideals of Flag Day.
Attest:
Clerk
