A Day To Honor The American Flag
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Every year on June 14th, Americans celebrate Flag Day - A national observance day that allows American people to reflect and pay homage to the red, blue and white banner that symbolizes their freedom, independence and unity, as a nation.
The history of Flag Day dates back to June 14th 1777, when the Continental Congress replaced the symbols of the Grand Union flag with a design that featured 13 white stars in a circle on a field of blue and 13 red and white stripes, symbolizing the first States of the Union.
While both stripes and stars were added as more states joined in - it soon became apparent that the resulting flag would be rather large and unwieldy. Therefore, the stripes were cut back to 15 and then further down to the initial 13 - The stars however, continued to grow until all 50 states were represented.
While the first proposal to honor the birth of the flag was made in June of 1886, it was not until 1916 that President Woodrow Wilson officially proclaimed June 14th as a nationwide observance day and, it took another 33 years before President Truman signed it into legislation.
Today, people all over the country celebrate the day by proudly displaying the flag outside their homes or offices and many schools have planned activities like Flag Day services, quizzes and essays. Some cities, like Quincy, Massachusetts and Troy, New York, even hold Flag Day parades, where as many as 50,000 people gather to rally around this often forgotten symbol of opportunity and security!
sources: wikipedia.org, www.foxnews.com
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35 Comments
- leeah 26over 12 yearsIf I where to create my own flag I would make it green blue and on the flag I would put everyones names in my class on it and it will tell facts about them like Sophie is kind and sweet and other stuff like that.
- Williamover 12 yearsIf I were to create my own flag I would desing it to be red, yellow, and black. The middle of the flag will look like a big triangle with a star in it. Then I will put 20 stripes on it and 50 stares on it. It will be so big that it can fill up one room that you wont be able to sleep in the room. Then I will give it a name and the name will be American flag and you would be able to fly it every 4th of July. It would be similar to the flag we have right now because it the star is so big.
- Nikoleover 12 yearsIf I got to design the flag the colors would be blue,pink and purple.In the middle it would be the sign of goodness and freedom.
- Rilynnover 12 yearsIf I were to create my own flag I would use Blue,Purple,and Pink,It would be the sign of freedom and we would get to do whatever we want.That is what my colors would be and that is what mine would stand four.#1
- Emmaover 12 yearsIf I were to create my own flag I would design it with a dog on it it would be a rainbow on it will have 50 stars on it and the different dog on the back of it and everybody will love it. It will not have black and blue these are not pretty colors. The stars are going to be in a circle It would have 500 stars on it. I t would have most pink on it because it is my pretty color some people like the color purple it will be most purple too. This flag would be similar by it would have stars and it will have lot of red and white but it would be different because the stars are in a circle.
- Andrewover 12 yearsIf I could create a flag that represents me it would look like yellow on the bottom and orange on top. And 50 eagles for 50 states. And 13 presedents for 13 colinys. They are simmalar because they both stand for amarica. They are different because they have eagles not stars and they have presedents not stripes. GO AMERICA America events 1.June 14 2.4th of July 3.All presedents birthday.
- Taylorover 12 yearsIf I were to create my own flag I would design it to be purple and blue and have the biggest star on it.It will represents my country all working together as one.
- Kasiover 12 yearsIf I could make a flag that represents me it would look like purple with 50 kinds of eagles for the 50 states and colorful created eagles to represent the stars in the square in the corner.Then the stripes would be 13 of are favorite presidents.The flag would be similar to the American flag because the two flags both have squares in the top corner.They are different because they have different colors and patterns the real American flag.
- Isaiahover 12 yearsIf I got to create my own flag I would design it to be blue with black stripes. It would say freedom. It would add a star each year.
- Ivanover 12 yearsIf I were to create my own flag I would design it to be blue and red stripes and 50 stars in a circle.Also it would have every president on it.