Posts Tagged ‘Stars and Stripes’
“Its folds protect no tyrant crew, / The red and white and starry blue”*…
(Roughly) Daily is off today… but it would be wrong to fail (to get to the almanac entry upfront) to mark the date on which we (accurately or inaccurately) celebrate the birth of our nation. So here is Paul Sorene with a selection from the photographic collection of Robert E. Jackson…
“I have decided to do a post which recognizes that next month our beleaguered country celebrates its 250th birthday. But in a subtle manner,” writes photograph collector Robert E. Jackson. “It focuses on stars in photography which makes a reference to the stars and stripes of our flag in some of the images.”
So, half a century since the bicentennial madness of 1976 we’re back to see the wonder of America all over again…
Many more at: “The USA’s Stars and Stripes In Found Photos“
Holiday bonus from Robert S. Levine: “Here’s the Frederick Douglass Speech to Revisit This July 4th.” And looking forward, from Nathan Gardels and Nicolas Berggruen, “America At 250 & Beyond.”
* John Philip Sousa, “Stars and Stripes Forever”
“Thou hast set all the borders of the earth…” but then humans marked them…
Fifty states, fifty welcome signs.
(“Thou hast set all the borders of the earth…” Psalms 74:17)
As we gas up and hit the road to collect ’em all, we might recall that it was on this date in 1777 that the Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution– and the Stars and Stripes was adopted as the flag of the United States of America for maritime purposes. While Congress reserved the right to adopt a different design for the nation’s ensign, it never did; rather it just added stars to the original thirteen for each new state in the Union.
The resolution specified “that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation”– but it did not specify the layout of the stars. Consequently there were several early versions, for instance:
In 1795, the number of stars and stripes was increased to 15 (reflecting the entry of Kentucky and Vermont). It was about this flag the Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner”– and the dye was cast.
Happy Flag Day!
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