Our Country's Flag (1971)

[Music] for hundreds of years banners and flags have been used by people as symbols of their hopes and ideals one of the first acts of any new nation is the adoption of a flag which can be easily identified wherever it is flown the design and colors nearly always are drawn from the experiences shared by a people during the period leading to the formation of their Nation in each country the flag is a reminder of the sacrifices which went into its building and a reflection of the pride felt by its people in their history and in their continuing accomplishments the flag of the United States served such a purpose the red and white stripes and white stars on a blue field have been part of this Heritage since the time time of the Revolution which brought American [Music] independence before the country became the United States of America it was made up of separate colonies which were under the rule of the British as years passed the people of the colonies objected to some of the British laws and tried to have them repealed eventually the Americans declared their independence of British rule and fought to established their own government during the American Revolution during the early part of the war many flags were used each stood for a colony from which soldiers came the New England colonies used a white flag with a green pine tree on it over the pine tree were the words an appeal to Heaven it was used by ships of the American Navy a rattlesnake a venomous snake found only in America was used as an emblem some sometimes rattlesnake flags were carried on the new American warships which put to Sea in January 1776 the flag called the Navy Jack was also known as the American Stripes it was one of the first to have the 13 stripes since the colonies had belonged to the British they had flown British banners on their ships in the early days of the war many of them continued to use flags much like the old British ones the Taunton flag which originated in Taunton Massachusetts was the same as the British Naval flag except that it bore the words Liberty and Union in his painting of the first real battle of the revolution on Bunker Hill John Trumble showed the Continental flag it is said the Bunker Hill flag was also carried at this battle no one really knows what American emblems were employed there [Music] the Grand Union Flag flew over General Washington's Camp outside Boston a New Year's Day of 1776 it was similar to the British Naval flag except that it had 13 red and white stripes these stood for the 13 American colonies the Grand Union was used on American Naval vessels Captain John Paul Jones raised it on his ship Alfred on December 3rd 1775 there are many stories told about who designed and made the early Flags the best known is about Betsy Ross according to Tradition general Washington and two other men called on Betsy Ross at her home in Philadelphia in June 1776 they presented her a design with red and white stripes and a blue field with 13 white stars the men asked her to make a flag from their drawing Betsy Ross agreed but she told the men that fivepoint stars were prettier than the Sixpoint stars of their design she showed them how easily a five-point star could be [Music] cut there are records that Betsy Ross did make some flags for American ships but there is no proof that she made the first Stars and Stripes all really know is that the Stars and Stripes is the flag adopted by Congress on June 14th 1777 Americans celebrate June 14th as Flag Day in the records of the Congress of that day it says that the flag of the United States be made of 13 stripes alternate red and white that the union be 13 stars white in a blue field representing a new constellation even so the early Flags did not all look the same there were no rules about how the 13 stars should be arranged the Bennington flag is said to be the first Stars and Stripes carried in a Land Battle it can still be seen in Bennington Vermont the first International recognition of the official American flag occurred on February 14th 1778 the French saluted it on Captain John Paul Jones's ship Ranger [Music] Captain Robert gray was the first to take the Stars and Stripes around the world on his ship Colombia which sailed from Boston in 1787 when the Revolution was over the United States began to grow two more states joined the first 13 de Vermont in 1791 and Kentucky in 1792 Congress decided to change the flag to give recognition to these new States the new flag had 15 stripes and 15 stars during the War of 1812 this expanded flag flew over Fort McKenry in Baltimore during the British bombardment it inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner this very flag that still waved when the battle was over is on display today at the Smithsonian institution on April 4th 1818 Congress once more altered the design of the flag by then there were 20 states in the union Congress voted to have 13 stripes alternate red and white to stand for the original 13 states there was to be one white star on the blue field for each state as new states were admitted another star would be added for each when the Civil War began there were 33 stars in the flag the union did not change the design to show that some states had seceded a new star was added for Kansas in 1861 and a 35th for West Virginia in [Music] 1863 as the years passed more States came into the United States by 1900 there were 45 Stars Oklahoma admitted in 1907 in New Mexico and Arizona in 1912 brought the number to 48 the United States stretched from the Atlantic Ocean on the East to the Pacific on the west and from Canada on the North to Mexico on the south the flag with 48 Stars served longer than other United States flags it did not change until 19 1959 when Alaska became the 49th state only a year later in 1960 a 50th star was added for [Music] Hawaii the Stars and Stripes with 13 stripes and 50 stars is now the flag of the United States of America [Music] h [Music]