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« on: June 10, 2015, 06:35:38 PM » |
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The Patriot Post - Alexander's Column 6-10-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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Flag Day — What Do You See?
The Banner of Liberty
By Mark Alexander
Jun. 10, 2015
“Resolved, 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.” —Second Continental Congress (June 14, 1777)
What do you think of when you see an American flag? Consider, for a moment, its origin, and let me tell you the images it evokes for me.
Perhaps the most iconic flag associated with the heritage of American Liberty is that attributed in 1876, the centennial of the Declaration of Independence signing, to the hand of Betsy Ross. It featured 13 stars arranged in a circle within a blue union field, and with 13 red and white stripes. That flag, however, was most likely produced late into the Revolutionary War, and not by Betsy Ross.
Some of the earliest examples of Revolutionary-era flags are those depicted by painter John Trumbull. He was an officer at the Battle of Bunker Hill, was appointed in 1776 as Second Personal Aide to General George Washington, and later Deputy Adjutant-General to General Horatio Gates. He is most noted for his 1792 portrait of Washington before the Battle of Trenton and his 1817 “Declaration of Independence,” a painting of the Signers depicted at the convention.
The flags in Trumbull’s 18th-century paintings of the Battle of Princeton (1777), the Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga (1777) and the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown (1781) all depict 12 stars within the blue field, 12 arranged in a square with the 13th in the center.
But the earliest flag widely associated with the Revolution was the 1775 Gadsden, with its yellow field depicting a coiled rattlesnake ready to strike and the words “DONT TREAD ON ME” beneath the serpent. Of course, that’s also the flag that today embodies the Second Tea Party Revolt1, which, in 2010, launched a great awakening of pride in our American heritage and a revitalized devotion to American Liberty2. This flag has its origin with Continental Colonel Christopher Gadsden, and it flew over the earliest actions by the Continental Navy and Marines — and inspired the Navy Jack still flown in the fleet today.
Gadsden’s flag was likely inspired by a plate published by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 featuring an image of a snake cut into sections representing the Colonies, over the words “JOIN, or DIE,” an appeal for unity during the French and Indian War.
The Second Continental Congress passed its flag resolution on June 14, 1777, the same date it authorized the first riflemen for the Continental Army. It also appointed George Washington to lead that Army the next day. The flag most likely referenced in that resolution was that designed by Declaration signer Francis Hopkinson, featuring six-pointed stars arranged in rows. It flew first over the battle of Fort Schuyler on August 3, 1777.
Until victory in 1783, under that flag and similar banners, the first American Patriots3 would defend the young nation against what seemed to be insurmountable odds.
It was during a second conflict with the British, the War of 1812, that our national flag, flying over Fort McHenry above Baltimore harbor, inspired Francis Scott Key to pen what is now our National Anthem.
In 1814, James Madison authorized Key and John Stuart Skinner to seek an agreement with the British to secure an exchange of prisoners. Under a flag of truce, Key and Skinner met with Major General Robert Ross and Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane aboard the HMS Tonnant. However, while onboard, Key and Skinner learned of British plans to attack Baltimore and thus were held captive.
From his vantage point onboard, Key was able to observe at the end of the first day of that campaign that Fort McHenry’s “storm flag” was still flying into the night. He didn’t know if his fellow Patriots had withstood the assault until, by the dawn’s early light, he saw that a much larger American flag (made of fine English wool) had been raised victoriously over the fort.
On that day, Key, an amateur poet, penned “The Defence of Fort McHenry,” later put to music as “The Star-Spangled Banner” and formally recognized in 1931 as our National Anthem.
While the first verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner” is familiar to most Americans, it is the fourth and final verse that speaks most directly to the humbling legacy of American Patriots, who have stood in harm’s way since the earliest skirmishes of the American Revolution:
O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
“In God is our trust” was shortened to “In God We Trust” and first appeared on U.S. coins in 1864. In 1956 President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into law as our National Motto. Seven years earlier, President Harry Truman signed the National Flag Day law.
Today, patriotic Americans recognize “In God We Trust” as the keystone of our Liberty and the Unalienable Rights of Man4 as endowed by our Creator.
So, what awakens in me today when I see an American flag? |
