Tomorrow, we celebrate Flag Day, the enduring symbol of our nation — Old Glory. It was on June 14, 1777 that the Continental Congress passed a resolution dictating 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.”
Thanks to Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress in 1782, we know very well the meaning of each color: Red for the valor and bravery of those who gave their all. White for purity, innocence, and the high ideals that guide us. And blue for vigilance, perseverance, and justice that must endure in perilous times.
On June 14, 1877, the first Flag Day observance was held: the 100th anniversary of our flag’s adoption. In the years after, several states continued to observe the anniversary, but not until 1949 did Congress officially designate June 14 as Flag Day. Now these 248 years later, the stars and stripes endure, albeit with a few more stars and states!
Certainly, one of the most memorable stories of our grand old flag came in 1814, when attorney Francis Scott Key sat in the hold of a British ship during the bombardment of Fort McHenry. In four beautiful verses, he inked into our national memory his long night of keeping watch over the ramparts for his American colors. We all know and sing his first stanza as our national anthem, but allow me to close today by reminding you the powerful words of his fourth verse:
- Oh! Thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand,
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation,
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land,
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
This post originally appeared at https://phyllisschlafly.com/uncategorized/old-glory-still-waving/
Phyllis Schlafly