RECOVERED HISTORY

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN FLAG

[John Seigenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center, discussed patriotism and the flag in a lecture at the center]

MELANIE BENGTSON, FIRST AMENDMENT CENTER - Seigenthaler said he, like most Americans, was taught that a young widow during the Revolutionary War designed the American flag at George Washington's request. Seigenthaler then told the story of Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, who billed Congress in 1780 for designing the American flag. Though he was never paid, Congress never denied that he was the flag's creator. The story of Betsy Ross was first reported in 1870 by her grandson, who claimed that his grandmother had shared the story with him as she was dying. The country accepted his tale because, Seigenthaler said, people needed unity and something to rally around. The Civil War had just ended and discord still rippled through the states, echoing the tragedy the country had just witnessed. In 1892, the Pledge of Allegiance first appeared, having been written by a socialist and Baptist minister named Francis Bellamy. Soon every schoolchild across the nation was reciting his words and saluting the flag daily. The Supreme Court ruled in Minersville School District v. Gobitis in 1940 that public school officials were justified in ordering two Jehovah's Witness children to salute and say the pledge - despite their faith's prohibition against paying homage to what they viewed as a "graven image" as described in Exodus. After the ruling, Jehovah's Witnesses across the country found themselves the target of 1,500 violent acts because they would not salute the flag. It was the eve of the United State's entrance in World War II and the Court's opinion "coincided with a gathering patriotic firestorm," Seigenthaler said. Horrified by the violence, in 1943 the Supreme Court overturned its previous ruling in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. Initially, proposed laws against flag desecration were aimed at entrepreneurs using its image to promote products in the late 19th century. However, in recent years a number of bills have been introduced in Congress to change the Constitution to allow flag protection. The most recent, proposed by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, lacked one vote to pass in June 2006. According to the First Amendment Center's State of the First Amendment survey, 63% of the public opposes a constitutional ban on flag-burning.

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=17533

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