I am a day late, as Flag Day was yesterday, June 14, but I wanted to share some information about the American Flag.
The first official United States flag was approved by Continental Congress June 14, 1777.[1] The stars on the original flag were arranged in a circle so all colonies would be represented equally.[2] These original colonies and their admission dates to the union are as follows:
Delaware (December 7, 1787), Pennsylvania (December 12, 1787), New Jersey (December 18, 1787), Georgia (January 2, 1788), Connecticut (January 9, 1788), Massachusetts (February 6, 1788), Maryland (April 28, 1788), South Carolina (May 23, 1788), New Hampshire (June 21, 1788), Virginia (June 25, 1788), New York (July 26, 1788), North Carolina (November 21, 1789), Rhode Island (May 29, 1790).[3]
Any time a new state has joined the United States, it’s necessitated a new flag design because a star must be added to represent the new state.[4] There have been 28 official versions of the American flag.[5] The thirteen alternating red and white stripes on the current American flag (seven red, six white), represent the original thirteen states.[6] When a new flag is adopted, it’s unveiled on July 4, Independence Day, in the year after the admission of new state(s) to the union.[7]
It was not until our 23rd president, “President Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893), (husband of Daughters of the American Revolution first President General Caroline Scott Harrison), that it was ordered for the American flag be flown above the White House.”[8] In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson established June 14th as Flag Day, but it is not an official Federal holiday and flags are not lowered.[9] American astronauts have left six flags on the moon. Five of them are still upright. The sixth was blown down by the exhaust from Apollo 11 in 1969 during its liftoff.[10]
If you have any questions about the United States Flag Code, please reach out.
[1] "Flag Facts,” Stars and Stripes Forever, Daughters of the American Revolution, pdf, DAR.org (https://www.dar.org/sites/default/files/members/committees/flag/pdf/2022/%282%29%20Flag%20Facts.pdf : accessed 7 June 2023), no. 1. [2] Ibid, no. 2.
[3] Stanley Shipley, “List of U.S. States Dates to the Union,” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica Online (https://www.britannica.com/topic/list-of-U-S-states-by-date-of-admission-to-the-Union-2130026 : accessed 15 June 2023) > table 1.
[4] “Flag Facts,” nos. 9, 10.
[5] Ibid, no. 9.
[6] Whitney Smith and Marc Leepson, “Flag of the United States of America,” Britannica.com (https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-the-United-States-of-America : accessed 30 April 2023), caption for image one.
[7] “Flag Facts,” no. 10.
[8] “Flag Facts,” no. 13.
[9] “Flag Facts,” no. 11.
[10] “Flag Facts,” no. 21.
Yorumlar