Flag Mottos

Our flag is a home production. It is indigenous to American soil. It is no foreign import or shoddy imitation. Its babyhood bore some resemblance to its English cousin’s; but that was because it was a baby. It luis outgrown the resemblances of childhood.

Our forefathers, with artistic taste, chose its appropriate colors, and with consummate skill harmonized them in such fashion as to make the first flag distinctively American.

It was not the inspiration of a moment, but a gradual growth. As a storm-tossed wave, it reflected the changeful skies above it But not one star was yet reflected from its bosom.

It represented the trembling and transition of its times. Its colors, though as ancient as the heavens, in combination were suggestive and original.

It was the first national flower to bloom upon the sturdy soil of American Independence, the rarest plant of patriotism, and the fairest wreath to flutter on the bright brow of Freedom.

Look at its beautiful colors! Consider their threefold significance as they harmoniously unite to form the first American flag.

This Leads Us To Look at Its Symbolism

RED signifies: Divine love; it is the language of valor and the emblem of war. Retí was the field color of England’s flag and the colonial army flag. Red denotes daring and defiance ; and is also typical of the blood our forefathers shed for their rights. This symbolism appears in the crimson stripes of the flag.

WHITE is the symbol of truth and hope. It is the language of purity and the emblem of peace. White was the ground of the flag of St. George, the field color of the colonial floating battery.

BLUE signifies, loyalty, sincerity, justice. Blue was the color of the Covenanters’ banner, oi Scotland, adopted by them in opposition to the scarlet of royalty; its choice is based on Numbers xv. 38: “Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments, throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringes of the l»orders a ribband of blue”—applicable to the significance of the United Colonies’ league and covenant against oppression.

Other nations, to be sure, had previously used these colors, but never in such beautiful conjunction and harmonious proportions.

12 Historic Flag Mottos

  1. “ Our flag beautiful in peace, Glorious in war.”
  2. " We love our native country’s flag, To it our hearts are true, Above us wave in splendid folds The red, the white, the blue.”
  3. “ Glorious flag, red, white and blue, Bright emblem of the pure and true.”
  4. " E plurtbus Unum — Distinct as the billows, yet one as the sea.”
  5. “ O’er every hero’s grave, O’er every freeman’s home, Let freedom’s banner wave, For victory proudly won.”
  6. Our flag carries American ideas, American history, American feelings.— Henry Ward Beecher.
  7. “ God bless the flag ! let it float and fill the sky with its beauty ; — our heartstrings thrill To the low, sweet chant of its wind-swept bars, And the chorus of all its clustered stars.”
  8. Flag of the free heart’s hope and home, By angel hands to valor given! Thy stars have lit the welkin dome, And all thy hues were born in heaven.—Drake.
  9. A song for our banner ? The watchword recall, Which gave the Republic her station. “ United we stand — divided we fall ! ”
    It made and preserved us a nation. —Geo. P. Morris.
  10. There are many flags in many lands, There are flags of every hue, But there’s no flag, however grand, Like our own “ Red, White and Blue.”
  11. “ The flag floats east, The flag floats west, The skies unveil their glory, The stripes reflect the beautiful light, While star tells to star its story.”
  12. A star for every State, and a State for every star — R. C. Winthrop.

Return to Top of Page