The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1915-07-02

early as 1854. 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 were not
at first seeking independence. They
took the British flag as they knew it,
and made a 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-
tiers at Cambridge, Mass, on January
/, 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-
ton 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 five
| pointed star could be made by fold
ing a piece Of paper and producing
one with single clip of the scissors
Some writer's are of the opinion that
beth stars and stripes in the flag
were derived from the coat of arms Of
the Washington family, but this the
DRY is not generally held
The official adoption of our first flag
was in 1777. On June IA of that yeal
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 {
blue field, representing new constel
lation." The thirteen stars were ar
ranged in circle to symbolic the per
petuity of the union Of the states.
Vermont was admitted to the Unior
in 1871 and Kentucky in 1892 1t wa:
felt that these two new states orgh
to be recognized on the flag, SO in 1794
congress passed an act making che
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 tn,
Union. In 1916. an effort was agar
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 shap,
and appearance, so after arguing tn,
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 shsp,
and proportions of the flag. and Their,
has been great variation. especially Ii
the grouping of the stars.