Flag Day

FLAG DAY-June 14
During America’s War for Independence, the need for a single national emblem was realized. On June 14, 1777, Congress passed an act stating “that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field representing a new constellation.” June 14 is now celebrated each year as Flag Day.

In 1704 after Vermont and Kentucky became states, Congress established a flag with 15 stars and 15 stripes. This design, which remained for 23 years, was “The Star-Spangled Banner” Francis Scott Key wrote about in 1814.

Finally in 1818, Congress settled n our current design. They returned to 13 stripes with the number of stars equal to the number of states - 20 at that time.

THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

The pledge of Allegiance has been expanded since it first appeared in the magazine , Youth’s Companion in 1892. In 1923 the words “flag of the United States of America” were substituted for “my flag” and in 1954, the phrase “under God” was added. The Pledge, adopted by Congress in 1942, was written in response to then-President Benjamin Harrison’s call to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the discover of America by showing patriotism. No one knows for sure who wrote the pledge. The magazine’s circulation chief, Francis Bellamy, gets credit from the U.S. Flag Association. But advocates of Mr. Bellamy’s assistant, James B. Upham, who think he wrote it, bitterly dispute the point.

THE PLEDGE
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united States of America
And to the republic for which it stands,
One nation under God,
Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER
Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming/
Whose broad stripes and bright stars,
Thro’ the perilous fight,
O’re the ramparts we watched,
Were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets red glare,
The bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

The lyricist, Frances Scott Key, was a lawyer negotiating the release of a prisoner of war on a British ship two years after the start of the War of 1812 when he overheard the British talk about their plan to attack Baltimore on Sept. 13. The British detained him to keep him from warning American troops. He anxiously watched the fire from the deck of the ship, and when he saw the U.S. flag stil waving at daybreak above Fort McHenry, he was inspired to write the poem. When he was released, he showed a copy to a relative, who took it to a printer. Set to the music of a popular tune, it was an instant success and was played by the Army March 3, 1931.

FLY YOUR FLAG!