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On September 8,1892, the Boston based "The Youth's Companion" magazine published a few words for students to repeat on Columbus Day that year. Written by Francis Bellamy, the circulation manager and native of Rome, New York, and reprinted on thousands of leaflets, was sent out to public schools across the country. On October 12, 1892, the quadricentennial of Columbus' arrival, more than 12 million children recited the Pledge of Allegiance, thus beginning a required school-day ritual. At the first National Flag Conference in Washington D.C., on June14, 1923, a change was made. For clarity, the words "the Flag of the United States" replaced "my flag". In the following years various other changes were suggested but were never formally adopted. It was not until 1942 that Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance. One year later, in June 1943, the Supreme Court ruled that school children could not be forced to recite it. In fact, today only half of our fifty states have laws that encourage the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in the classroom! History of Our Flag The flag of the United States
of America today has 13 stripes - 7 red and 6 white - and 50 white stars on
a blue field - five rows of 6 and four rows of 5. The stripes remind us of
the 13 original colonies that gained us our liberty. The stars represent the
states that are bound together into one country. |
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Alabama
An
English flag, known as the Red Ensign, waved over the 13 colonies from 1707
to the Revolution. The Red Ensign was the merchant flag of England. It was
red with a union in the upper corner combining the cross of St. George (red
on white), patron of England, with the diagonal cross (white on blue) of St.
Andrew, patron of Scotland.
The
flag that became known as the Grand Union flag was raised over George
Washington's headquarters outside Boston on January 1, 1776. The
Revolutionary War had started the year before and the colonies needed a flag
of their own. The Grand Union flag retained the union of the English flag.
Six white stripes broke the red field into seven red stripes - a total of 13
stripes.
The first official flag of the new nation was created by a resolution of the
Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia. The resolution was passed on
June 14, 1777. That is the date we celebrate each year as Flag Day. The
resolution specified "that the flag be 13 stripes alternate red and white;
that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new
constellation." Since the resolution did not state how the stars were to be
arranged, flag makers arranged them in different ways, among them; rows, in
a half circle, and in a full circle. The one adopted was made by Besty Ross
and had the stars in a full circle.
The flag that waved over Fort McHenry when it was bombarded, September
13-14, 1814, was a 15 star and 15 stripe flag. Two stripes and stars had
been added to the original 13 on May 1, 1795. It became famous as the Star
Spangled Banner. It was the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write
our national anthem.
The Flag
of 1818 had the stripes reduced to 13. Five more stars had been added, for a
total of 20. When still more states joined the United States, it became
evident that the flag would get to be an awkward shape if more and still
more stripes were added. Therefore, on April 4, 1818, Congress passed a law
that restored the design back to the original 13 stripes. It also provided
that a star be added to the blue field for each new state.
