Thursday, June 14, 2012

NATIONAL FLAG DAY

In the United States Flag Day is celebrated on June 14.  It is an annual celebration of the adoption of the flag which happened on that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.  As the story goes, Betsy Ross, who was an upholsterer by trade and a fellow parishioner at the Christ Church with George and Martha Washington, sewed the first American Flag in 1776.

On June 14, 1885 BJ Cigrand, a school teacher, arranged for the pupils of Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School to observe the 108th anniversary for the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes as "Flag Birthday".

In 1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held a Flag Day celebration.  Over the next 30 years many cities between New York and Pennsylvania held their own celebrations mostly for school children.

Inspired by these three decades of state and local celebrations, Flag Day was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30, 1916.  While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after President Wilson's proclamation, it was not until August 3, 1949 that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day.

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