History of the National Flag of the United States of America Part 8

which alludes to the _eye_ in the arms, meant for the eye of Providence.

"Over the crest, in a scroll, this motto:--

'_Virtus sola invicta_,'

which requires no comment.

"The thirteen pieces, barways, which fill up the field of the arms, may represent the several States; and the same number of stars, upon a blue canton, disposed in a circle, represent a new constellation, which alludes to the new empire formed in the world by the confederation of those States. Their disposition in the form of a circle, denotes the perpetuity of its continuance, the ring being the symbol of eternity. The eagle displayed, is the symbol of supreme power and authority, and signifies the Congress; the pillar upon which it rests is used as the hieroglyphic of fort.i.tude and constancy, and its being of the Doric order (which is the best proportioned and most agreeable to nature), and composed of several members, or parts, all taken together, forming a beautiful composition of strength, congruity, and usefulness, it may, with great propriety, signify a well-planned government. The eagle being placed on the summit of the column is emblematical of the sovereignty of the government of the United States; and as further expressive of that idea, those two charges, or five and six azure, are borne in a pale which extends across the thirteen pieces into which the escutcheon is divided. The signification of the eye has been already explained. The helmet is such as appertains to sovereignty, and the cap is used as the token of freedom and excellency. It was formerly worn by dukes; says Guillien, _they had a more worthy government than other subjects_. The c.o.c.k is distinguished for two most excellent qualities, viz., _vigilance_ and _fort.i.tude_.

"The genius of the American confederated Republic is denoted by the blue scarf and fillet glittering with stars, and by the tag of Congress which she displays. Her dress is white edged with green, colors emblematical of innocence and truth. Her purple girdle and radiated crown indicate her sovereignty; the word "Virtue," on the former, is to show that that should be her princ.i.p.al ornament; and the _radiated_ crown, that no earthly crown shall rule her. The dove, on the top of the American standard, denotes the mildness and purity of her government.

"The knight in armor, with his b.l.o.o.d.y lance, represents the military genius of the American empire, armed in defence of its just rights. His blue belt and blue feathers, indicate his country, and the white plume is in compliment to our gallant ally. The wreath of laurel round his helmet is expressive of his success.

"The green field of the banner denotes youth and vigor; the harp[61] [with thirteen strings], emblematical of the several States acting in harmony and concert; the star _in chief_ has reference to America, as _princ.i.p.al_ in the contest; the two _fleurs-de-lis_ are borne as a grateful[62] testimony of the _support_ given to her by France, and the two swords, crossing each other, signify the state of war. This tenant and his flag relate totally to America at the time of her Revolution.

(Signed,) "WM. BARTON."

[61] The pen is run through the words, "with thirteen strings," in the original.

[62] "In the arms of Scotland, as manifested in the royal atchievement, the double fressure which surrounds the lion is borne _flory_ and _counter-flory_ (with _fleurs-de-lis_), which is in consequence of a treaty that was entered into between Charlemagne, then Emperor and King of France, and Achius, King of Scotland; to denote that the French lilies should guard and defend the Scottish lion."

Mr. Middleton, Mr. Boudinot, and Mr. Rutledge, reported a modification of this, June 13, 1782, which was referred to the Secretary of the United States, in Congress a.s.sembled, to take order.

Device for a Great Seal, as adopted June 20, 1782.

"The Secretary of the United States in Congress a.s.sembled, to whom was referred the several reports of committees on the device of a Great Seal to take order, reports:--

"That the device for an armorial atchievement, and reverse of a Great Seal for the United States in Congress a.s.sembled, is as follows:--

"ARMS.--Paleways, of thirteen pieces, argent and gules, a chief azure. The escutcheon on the breast of the American bald eagle, displayed proper, holding in his dexter talon an olive-branch, and in his sinister a bundle of thirteen arrows, all proper, and in his beak a scroll, inscribed with this motto: _E Pluribus Unum_.

"FOR THE CREST.--Over the head of the eagle, which appears above the escutcheon, a glory, or, breaking through a cloud proper, and surrounding thirteen stars forming a constellation, argent on an azure field.

"REVERSE.--A pyramid unfinished. In the zenith, an eye in a triangle, surrounded with a glory proper. Over the eye these words, _Annuit Coeptis_. On the base of the pyramid, the numerical letters, MDCCLXXVI., and underneath the following motto:

'_Novus ordo Seclorum._'

"_Remarks and Explanations._--The escutcheon is composed of the chief and pale, the two most honorable ordinaries. The pieces paly, represent the several States all joined in one solid compact entire, supporting a chief, which unites the whole and represents Congress. The motto, alluding to this Union. The pales in the arms are kept closely united by the chief, and the chief depends on that union, and the strength resulting from it, for its support, to denote the confederacy of the United States of America, and the preservation of their Union through Congress.

"The colors of the pales are those used in the flag of the United States of America; white, signifies purity and innocence; red, hardiness and valor; and blue, the color of the chief, signifies vigilance, perseverance, and justice. The olive-branch and arrows denote the power of peace and war, which is exclusively vested in Congress. The constellation denotes a new State taking its place and rank among the sovereign powers. The escutcheon is borne on the breast of the American eagle, without any other supporters, to denote that the United States of America ought to rely on their own virtue.

"REVERSE.--The pyramid signifies strength and duration. The eye over it, and the motto, allude to the many and signal interpositions of Providence in favor of the American cause. The date underneath is that of the Declaration of Independence; and the words under it signify the beginning of the new American era, which commences from that date."

In most of the above reports, a reference will be perceived to the devices and colors of the flag of the U. States, and many of the ideas presented in them are drawn from it, viz., the chief azure corresponding to the union of the flag, the pales corresponding to the stripes, which together const.i.tute a whole; the constellation of stars also taken from the flag, and indicating a new State (composed of thirteen States) dependent upon their union. As these are the princ.i.p.al ideas presented in the arms of the United States, may we not reasonably conclude that, being borrowed from the flag, they are the views that prevailed at the time of its adoption, presented under another guise?

The reference to eternity, in the arms, was indicated by the circle of stars in the flag; the reference to Providence, in the eye, was in the flag presented in the field of thirteen stripes, a combination of the red and white flags, which bore the mottoes: "_Qui transtulit sustinet_," and an "Appeal to Heaven."

It is intimated, in some of these reports, that the colors for the flag were adopted apart from other reasons, as implying certain virtues; of the fact of their implying them there can be no doubt, but that they were not immediately adopted into the flag for that reason, but rather because they were already in use, with these meanings attached to them, at least so far as the red and white colors were concerned, we think we have conclusively shown. We shall presently offer some suggestions relative to the blue color, which will indicate a more direct reason for its adoption than the virtues implied by it.

But to return to the account of the flag. We remarked, under the head of the Great Union Flag of the Colonies, that the stripes in the field of the flag were not only designed to show the union of the thirteen colonies, but also the number of members which composed it, and their dependence as a whole upon the Union. The first change in the flag of the United States, shows that this conclusion was a correct one. It was directed in the following resolution:--

"_Be it enacted_, &c., of May, Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, the flag of the United States be fifteen stripes, alternate red and white. That the union be fifteen stars, white in a blue field." Approved January 13, 1794. (See Fig. 2, Plate III.)

This was the flag of the United States during the war of 1812-14.

In 1818, the flag of the United States was again altered, and, as we are informed, on the suggestion of the Hon. Mr. Wendover, of New York, a return was made to the thirteen stripes; as it was antic.i.p.ated the flag would become unwieldy if a stripe was added on the admission of each State; and, moreover, by the plan proposed, the union of the old thirteen States, as well as the number of members composing the existing Union, would be presented by the flag of the United States.

Mr. W. also proposed the arrangement of the stars in the union into the form of a single star. In this, there was a departure from the original design, as the perpetuity of the Union ceased to be indicated by the flag, as it had previously been in the circle of stars, except so far as indicated by the several stars forming one large star.

The Resolution of 1818 was as follows:-

"_Be it enacted_, &c., That from and after the fourth day of July next, the flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be twenty stars, white, in a blue field.

"And, that, on the admission of a new State into the Union, one star be added to the union of the flag; and that such addition shall take effect on the fourth day of July next succeeding such admission." Approved April 4, 1818.

The flag planted on the National Palace of the city of Mexico had thirty stars in the union.

The following compliment was paid to this flag.

June 3, 1848, "Mr. Drayton submitted the following resolution; which was considered, by unanimous consent, and agreed to:--

"_Resolved_, That the Vice-President be requested to have the flag of the United States first erected by the American army upon the palace in the capital of Mexico, and now here presented, deposited for safe-keeping in the Department of State of the United States."--Page 370, Journal of the Senate 1847-48.

The union of the United States flag at present contains thirty-one stars. (See Fig. 3, Plate III.)

We have, in the preceding pages, offered many reasons for concluding that the devices in the flag, its colors, and the manner in which they were combined, originated in some circ.u.mstance directly connected with the history of the colonies, or in some practice which prevailed in the mother country. Particularly was this the case in the adoption of the emblem of union from the mother country. This leads us to make a few remarks as to the prominence given to the color blue in the reports on the adoption of the device for a Great Seal of the United States, and in its being the ground of the uniform of the United States. We have previously stated that its adoption was due to other circ.u.mstances directly, than its being typical of the virtues of perseverance, vigilance, and justice, though indirectly this meaning was involved in its adoption. First, blue was a favorite color in the colonies, as is proved by the fact of its being the uniform of the South Carolina troops in 1775. For we have seen that Colonel Moultrie caused a large blue flag to be made, with a crescent in one corner, to be uniform with the troops; and by the fact that the pine-tree flag of New England was a blue field, containing in the upper canton, next the staff, a St.

George's cross on a white ground, and a pine-tree represented in the upper square formed by the cross. A reason for this color being a favorite in New England, may perhaps be found in the circ.u.mstance, that, in 1679, when the banner of the league and covenant was raised in Scotland, it was a red flag, the borders of which were edged with blue.[63] Borders of different color from the body of the flag, or from the s.h.i.+eld of the coat of arms, are in heraldry, a common distinction, and as such was doubtless applied by the Covenanters (blue being the color of the field of the banner of Scotland, as we have seen), to indicate by whom this red flag was raised, and thus the blue color became identified with the league and covenant. After the defeat of Bothwell's Bridge, many of those people fled to the colonies, particularly to New England and New Jersey.

[63] Walter Scott's Old Mortality, vol. ii. p. 116.

That feelings kindred to those excited among the Covenanters were aroused among the colonists, is shown by the mottoes on "the Union flag with a red field," already spoken of as displayed on a liberty-pole in New York city in 1775. Those mottoes were, "No Popery," and "George Rex and the liberties of America." It was probably in reference to his being commander of the armies of the colonies, united in a solemn league and covenant in defence of civil and religious liberty, that General Was.h.i.+ngton adopted as his badge a light blue riband, which had already been identified with a similar league and covenant in Scotland.

At a later day, on the adoption of an Union flag as the flag of the United Colonies, the color of the field of the union (derived, as was the blue border of the red flag of the Covenanters, from the banner of Scotland) being blue, this color became identified with that which gave nationality to the colonies, viz., their union, and on this account was adopted as the ground of the national uniform, and as the color for the chief or union, both in the arms of the United States and in their flag.

That the prevailing colors of the uniforms of the army at that time corresponded to the colors of the flag, is a well-known fact. Thus the facings of the blue coats were red, the color of the plumes white, tipped with red, &c. The buff and blue, commonly regarded as the continental uniform, was that of the general officers, and not of the body of the troops. In the navy, the same was the case. The prevailing colors of the uniform of the officers of the navy were blue and red; those of the uniform of the marine officers, green and white: the colors of the flag of the United States, and of the flag of the floating batteries, before given, viz., white, with a green tree in the middle, &c. &c.

That such considerations operate in the selection of colors for uniforms, is proved by the fact that the uniform of the United States corps of cadets, a corps inst.i.tuted and kept up with a view to foster and preserve military knowledge in our country, instead of being of the national color, blue, is gray trimmed with black. This color for the uniform of that corps was chosen in 1815, out of compliment to the services of the brigade commanded by General Scott at Chippewa, &c., in the war of 1812-14. The embargo and the war having cut off the supply of blue cloths, the commissary-general of purchases was forced temporarily to supply that brigade with a subst.i.tute of gray, trimmed with black.

As this, then, was the origin of the color of the uniform of the corps of cadets, may we not conclude that, for the reasons a.s.signed, blue was adopted as our national color, out of compliment to the Union, with which, as we have shown, it was intimately connected.

Having given the preceding account of our National Flag, we now add the names of those connected with its different phases.

1st. General Was.h.i.+ngton.

2d. Benjamin Franklin, Mr. Lynch, and Mr. Harrison; the Committee of Conference, with General Was.h.i.+ngton, on the organization of the army, of which Colonel Joseph Reed was Secretary.

3d. The Marine Committee; Mr. Bartlett, Mr. Hanc.o.c.k, Mr. Hopkins, Mr.

Deane, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Crane, Mr. R. Morris, Mr. Read, Mr. Chase, Mr. R.

H. Lee, Mr. Hewes, Mr. Gadsden, and Mr. Houston.

4th. The Board of War; Mr. J. Adams, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Harrison, Mr.