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What Does this Flag have in common with these Flags? |
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They are ALL American Flags! |
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As citizens of the United States of America we do not pledge our allegiance to the "American Flag"...for there is no single flag that represents the whole of America. The "Star Spangled Banner" is the flag of the (50) UNITED STATES of America. Our flag is only as much an American flag as are the flags of Canada, Chile, Mexico, and countless other nations that share the geographical boundaries of the continents called North and South America. The Star Spangled Banner is unique in that it represents one nation, a republic consisting of 50 individual states that united together to form "one Nation under God". All too often we think of "Old Glory" as the American Flag, and most people understand when we use this term, what flag we are referring to. But, in point of fact, the true title for the banner that represents the greatest nation of free citizens in the history of mankind is: The Flag of the United States of America |
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This is the the Flag of the United States of America as it looks today. Though the 13 red and white stripes date back to our earliest flag, the blue field (called the "UNION") has changed over the years since our Nation was formed. The present design with a field of 50 stars has been our official flag since 1960. |
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"This flag means more than association and reward. It is the symbol of our national unity, our national endeavor, our national aspiration. It tells you of the struggle for independence, of union preserved of liberty and union one and inseparable, of the sacrifices of brave men and women to whom the ideals and honor of this nation have been dearer than life. "It means America first, it means an undivided allegiance. It means that you cannot be saved by the valor and devotion of your ancestors, that to each generation comes its patriotic duty, and that upon your willingness to sacrifice and endure as those before you have sacrificed and endured rests the national hope. "It speaks of equal rights; of the inspiration of free institutions exemplified and vindicated, of liberty under law intelligently conceived and impartially administered." Charles Evans Hughes 11th Chief Justice of the United States |
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The Union Flag |
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THE GRAND UNION FLAGThis flag, often alternately called: THE CONGRESS COLORS or THE FIRST NAVY ENSIGN or THE CAMBRIDGE FLAG was authorized by the Second Continental Congress in 1775. In the latter part of that year the delegates to the Congress realized the need for a unique symbol of the unity of the 13 American colonies. A committee was appointed late that year to consider such a symbol of unity in a unique standard, or flag. The committee consisted of Benjamin Franklin (Pennsylvania), Benjamin Harrison (Virginia) and Thomas Lynch (South Carolina). The three men did their homework, consulting with revolutionary leaders like George Washington but not ignoring the many Colonial leaders who were opposed to separation from Great Britain. The resulting Grand Union Flag may have been one of the first examples of compromise in the development of a new United States. Designed by Francis Hopkinson who later was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the Colonies' new flag incorporated both trains of prevailing political thought:
Members of the Second Continental Congress
considered this new symbol of the 13 American Colonies to be the CONGRESS COLORS. On
January 1, 1776 General George Washington's troops raised the their new flag on the
liberty pole at Prospect Hill near the American General's headquarters in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. For this reason it became known by many as the CAMBRIDGE FLAG.
General Washington preferred to call it the GRAND UNION FLAG, a title that quickly caught
on among his soldiers and then others throughout the colonies. |
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Sources: OUR FLAG, Joint Committee on
Printing, United States Congress. 1989 |
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