Middletown transcript., 1915-07-03

early as 1764. Benjamin Franklin de-
Tended the rattlesnake device on the
ground that the rattlesnake is found
only in America, and that serpent en-
blems were considered by ancients
to be symbols of wisdom.
In September, 1775, there was dis
played in the South what was by
many believed to be the first distinct
lively American flag. 1t was blue with
white crescent, and matched the
dress Of the troops, who wore caps in
scribed, Liberty or Death"
The colonists desired to adopt a
common flag; but they had not yet
declared independence, and we're not
at first seeking independence. They
took the British flag as they knew it,
and made new colonial flag by divid-
ing the red field with white stripes
into thirteen alternate red and white
stripes. This is known as the Cam
bridge flag, because it was first un-
furled over Washington's headquar-
ters at Cambridge, Mass, on January
l, 1776. 1t complied with the law Of
1907 by having the Union Jack on it;
it also represented the thirteen colon
les by the thirteen stripes.
AS the colonists gradually became
converted to the idea that independ-
ence from the mother country was
necessary, they began to modify the
flag, first by leaving off the Union
Jack and using only the thirteen hori-
zontal stripes. The modified flags
were not always red and white, but
regularly consisted of combinations of
two colors selected from red, white,
blue and yellow. The final modifica-
tion was the replacement of the Union
Jack by the white stars on a blue
field.
The stars are the only distinctive
feature of the American flag. The
charming story which credits Betsy
Ross with making the first flag Of
stars and stripes is still accepted by
historians. When Washington sug-
gested the six-pointed star, she demon
strated the ease with which a FIVE
pointed star could be made by fold
ing a piece of paper and producing
one with a single clip of the scissors.
Some writer's are of the opinion that
both stars and stripes in the flag
were derived from the coat of arms of
the Washington family, but this the
ory is not generally held.
The official adoption of our first flag
was in 1777. On June IA of that year
the Continental congress passed an
act providing that "the flag of the
thirteen united states be thirteen
stripes, alternate red and white; that
the union be thirteen stars, white on a
blue field, representing a new constel-
lation." The thirteen stars were ar
ranged in a circle to symbolic the per-
petuity of the union of the states.
Vermont was admitted to the Union
in 1871 and Kentucky in 1892. 1t was
felt that these two new states ought
to be recognized on the flag, so in 1894
congress passed an act making the
flag fifteen stars and fifteen stripes.
This remained the flag of the United
States throughout the War of 1872,
until there were twenty states in the
| Union. In 1916, an effort was again
made to modify the flag so that all the
new states would be represented on it.
To be continually adding stripes would
make the flag very awkward in shape
and appearance, so after arguing the
matter for two years, congress decided
| to return to the original thirteen
stripes and one star for each state
Congress has never determined the ar.
rangement of the stars nor the shape
and proportions of the flag, and there
has been great variation, especially in
the grouping of the stars.