Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1877-06-20
The Old Flag.

On thursday Oh laSt week occurred tne
one hundredth anniversary of the adoption
of the stars and stripes as the national en-
blem of our common country. The day was
suitably observed in the larger towns of the
United States, notably in Boston, Hartford,
New York and Washington, and its observ-
ance should have been much more general
than it was. A brief statement of the his
tory of its adoption may be of profit. Pre-
vious to June 18th, 1777, various emblelns
had been used for this purpose, and devices
of several kinds denoted the section of coun
try from which the soldiers of the Revolu.
ton came, rather than the common country
which they all served. On this day Congress
passed a resolution declaring that "the Flag
of the United States be Thirteen Stripes
he Thirteen Stars in Blue Field" The law
constituting this flag was not published
till the 3D. of September following and the
flag itself was unfurled for the first time in
the army on the surrender of Burgoyne at
Saratoga, October 17th l777. This flag re-
manned the Flag of the Union until the
admission of the states of Vermont and
Kentucky. Congress- on the 18th of Janu
AIRY, 1894, authorized the addition after Ma,
LIST, 1894, of two stars and two stripes to
represent the new states. This flag of ff-
teen stars and fifteen stripes continued in
use several years after the close of the war
of 1912 with Great Britain.
The addition of stars and stripes for every
new state admitted to the Union would, it
was discovered, make the flag too cumber-
some and unhandy, and return to the
original and more appropriate design was
resolved upon. Congress therefore enacted,
April 4th, 1918, that from and after July
4th of that year, the flag of the United States
should be " Thirteen horizontal stripes alter
nate red and blue, and that the Union shall
be twenty stars in blue field, and that on
the admission of every new state into the
Union, one star shall be added to the Union
of the flag, and that such addition shall take
effect on the 4th day of July next succeed
ing such admission"
From the original thirteen stars we have
being Colorado, which was admitted into
the Union July ith, 1876. This flag has
certainly witnessed wonderful strides in the
advancement of the material interests of the
country, and under its shadow many well
fought contest has been decided.
Such is the history of our National ban
ner, which has now attained its hundredth
birthday. 1t floats once more over united
country, and is looked up to with pride and
patriotism by forty millions of people. tits
the flag of the freeman's hope, and among
the ensigns of all the nations of the earth
there is not one that combines so much of
beauty and OF meaning. We may well re.
vive the prayer of the great statesman that
its motto may henceforth be "spread all
over in characters of living light, blazing on
all its ample folds, and as they float over the
sea and over the land, and in every wind un-
der the whole heavens that othey sentiment.
dear to every true American heart-Lib-
erty and Union, now and forever one and
inseparable."
Flag of the free hearts hope and home,
By angel hands To valor given,
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome,
And all thy hues were born in heaven
Forever float that standard sheet
Where breathes the foe, but falls before us,
With Freedoms soil beneath our feet,