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Congress adopted a resolution, when John Adams proposed a new flag,
the "thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new
constellation." The official history of our flag begins on June
14, 1777. Aspects of the flag are the stars, taken from heaven, the
stripes, red from our mother country(Britain), separated by the white
for Liberty.
In 1818 Congress enacted a statue finally fixing the style, and
pattern of the general flag of the country as we know it today. In
due respect it should not be hoisted before sunrise nor allowed to
remain up after sunset (without specific lighting). Flag Day honors
the Stars and Stripes as our national flag by the Second Continental
Congress on June 14, 1777, symbolizing the new nation, the United
States of America. The first national observance of Flag Day came
June 14, 1877, the centennial of the original resolution. In the
decades that followed many individuals and organizations pushed to
have Flag Day observed.
One individual, Bernard J. Cigrand, waged a lifelong crusade for
National Flag Day observance. A Wisconsin school teacher, he kept a 38 star flag 10 inches high
mounted in a bottle on his desk. In 1885, Cigrand observed a first
Flag Day birth with his pupils. The pause for the Pledge of
Allegiance is for all Americans everywhere, on June 14, at 7:00 p.m.,
to simultaneously say the thirty-one words of the Pledge of Allegiance
to the Flag. Congress recognizes this (PL. 99 - 54), as part of the
official ceremonies.
FLAG DAY the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777 - was
officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow
Wilson on May 30, 1916. Flag Day was celebrated in many communities
for years after President Wilson's proclamation. It was not until
August 3, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress
designating June 14 as National Flag Day.
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