Our Country's Flagprovides a patri

[Music] [Applause] [Music] a flag waving in the breeze is a beautiful sight but it is much more than that the flag of a country stands for the country and its people the flag stands for the people's beliefs and hopes it stands for the land they love many countries in the world are new their flags are new these flags stand for a new way of living a new freedom in older countries the flag reminds the people of their history they are proud of their country they are proud of all the men and women who have defended the country and its flag through many years the red white and blue flag of the United States of America is a proud old flag the red and white stripes and the white stars on the blue field have been used on the flag since 1777 that was during the American Revolution nearly 200 years ago before our country became the United States of America it was made up of separate colonies these American colonies were under the rule of British as years passed the people in the colonies thought some of the British laws were wrong they fought to have the laws changed after a while the Americans wanted to be free of British rule they wanted to have their own government this was the start of the American Revolution during the early part of the war many flags were used each flag stood for a colony from which soldiers came the New England colonies used a white flag with a green pine tree on it over the pine tree were the words an appeal to heaven it was used by ships of the American Navy some early flags showed a rattle snake a snake found only in America rattlesnake flags were carried on the new American warships which put to sea in January 1776 a flag called the Navy Jack was also known as the American stripes this was one of the first flags to have the thirteen stripes shown in our flag today since the colonies had belonged to the British they had used British flags on their ships in the early days of a war many of the flags were much like British flags the flag called the Taunton flag was used in Taunton Massachusetts it was the same the British naval flag the only difference was that on the Taunton flag were the words liberty and union the first real battle of the Revolution was called the Battle of Bunker Hill an American painter John Trumbull Paine a picture of this battle in it he showed the Continental flag it is also said that a flag called the Bunker Hill flag was carried at this battle but no one really knows what American flags were carried at Bunker Hill the Grand Union flag was flown to General Washington's camp outside Boston on New Year's Day of 1776 it looked like the British naval flag except that it had 13 red and white stripes these stood for the 13 American colonies in the revolution a Grand Union flag was used on ships of the new American Navy captain John Paul Jones raised this flag on his ship alfrid on December 3rd 1775 there are many stories told about the early flags and how they were made it is said that General Washington and two other men went to see Betsy Ross in her house in Philadelphia in June 1776 they had a drawing of a flag it had red and white stripes and a blue field with 13 white stars the men asked Betsy Ross to make a flag from the drawing the stars in the drawing had 6 points but Betsy Ross said they should have 5 points she took her scissors and showed them then how easily a five point star could be cut from cloth in a short time the flag was made there are records that Betsy Ross did make some flags used on ships but there is no record that she made the first stars and stripes all we really know is that the Stars and Stripes is a flag adopted by Congress on June 14th 1777 we celebrate June 14th as Flag Day and the records of the Congress of that day it says that the flag of the United States be made of 13 stripes alternate red and white that the Union be thirteen stars white in a blue field representing a new constellation the early flags didn't all look the same there were no rules about how the thirteen stars and 13 stripes should be used the Bennington flag is said to be the first stars and stripes carried in a land battle this flag can still be seen at Bennington Vermont the first salute to the Stars and Stripes by another country was on February 14th 1778 the French saluted the American flag on Captain John Paul Jones a ship Ranger Captain Jones also was the first to win a battle at sea while flying the Stars and Stripes the first time the Stars and Stripes was carried around the world was by captain gray in the ship Columbia she sailed from Boston in 1787 when the war was over our country began to grow two more States were added to the first 13 Vermont in 1791 and Kentucky in 1792 Congress decided to change the flag to show that there were more states in our country the new law said that the flag of the United States should be 15 stripes alternate red and white and 15 stars white in a blue field during the war of 1812 the flag of 15 stars and 15 stripes flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor this is the flag that led Francis Scott Key to write the star-spangled banner the same flag that flew over Fort McHenry can be seen in Washington today it is at the Smithsonian Institution on April 4th 1818 Congress made a law changing the flag again but then there were 20 states in the Union Congress voted to have 13 stripes alternate red and white to stand for the first 13 states there was to be one white star on the blue field for each of the 20 states as new states were added a new star would be added for each when the war between the states began there were 33 stars in our flag Union soldiers fought under a flag with 33 stars for three months then a new star was added for Kansas on July 4th 1861 Union soldiers fought under this 34 star flag until 1863 when a new star was added for West Virginian more states were admitted as years passed by 1900 there were 45 stars in the flag Oklahoma admitted in 1908 made 46 on July 4th 1912 the 47th star was added for New Mexico and the 48th for Arizona all the territories were now States they stretched from the Atlantic Ocean on the east to the Pacific on the west and from Canada on the north to Mexico on the south the flag with 48 stars served longer than any of our other flags it did not change until 1959 when Alaska became our 49th state the fiftieth star for the new state of Hawaii was added on July 4th 1960 the Stars and Stripes with 50 stars is now the flag of the United States of America our flag flying proudly is a beautiful sight it is a sign of freedom and hope every home in our country should have an American flag we must always remember what it means and be proud of our flag and proud to be Americans [Music]