The Flag

In honor of Flag Day, June 14th:

An Infamous Flag and an Infamous Photo

An 8-square mile island in the South Pacific, Iwo Jima was to become the most deadly spot on earth.  Some 70,000 Americans and 21,000 Japanese troops battled for control of the island.  For 36 days, fierce fighting would claim the lives of 20 of every 21 Japanese; and 1 of every 3 Americans would be injured or killed.

Mount Suribachi, the 556 foot high fortress, became the key to victory.  After four days of bloody fighting, the Marines reached the summit and planted an American flag.  It was replaced by a larger one ‘that could be seen by every Marine on the island’.

The flag, rescued from a sinking ship in the Pearl Harbor attack, now part of a famous photograph, lifted the spirits of a war-weary homefront and emboldened the battle-weary on the front lines.

So Help Me God

It’s a tradition that just seems right.

Having been unanimously elected as the first President of the United States, George Washington risked his reputation, as he told this friend Henry Lee, ‘for the good of my country.’

It was now up to the new President to strengthen this new government by maintaining with all his effort the powers the Constitution assigned to his office.  Knowing that this undertaking was to be one of his greatest challenges, he would draw upon the opportunity of divine strength.

When Washington was sworn in as President on April 30, 1789, he raised his right arm to the square.  After repeating the oath of office:

“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

he spontaneously added the words, ’so help me God’.

Washington's Inauguration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ever since, those few, powerful words, ’so help me God’ have been considered a part of the Presidential oath of office.

Washington’s Christmas Gift – Across the Delaware

Amid the bitterly cold winter of 1776, General George Washington huddles his rag-tag army at Valley Forge. With supplies, food, and clothing dwindling and an incompetent and infighting Continental Congress not getting supplies to the army, it becomes aparent the war and Revolution may be lost. Washington needs a victory to bolster the war and the army.

He gathers his army for the final effort that may revitalize the army which has shrunk to about 5,000 men and all appears to lost. Washington tells his army on Christmas Day to prepare to take the offensive and cross the Delaware to attack the Hessians at Trenton.

The task will be monumental – crossing the Delaware in a blizzard and a near frozen river. Washington himself will lead his soldiers in battle, the first time he has done so in the war.

At 11 p.m. the boats begin to cross the Delaware – it will be a painfully difficult task – high wind, increasing snow and ice. It takes most of the night to get the army over the river, costing more time than planned.

Washington considered turning back, but determined to push on. At 5 a.m. the temperature continues to drop, soldiers begin to succumb to the elements. Many have no shoes, most have no coats, but trudge forward through the deep snow.

Two soldiers lay down in the snow, never to get up again, the others continue on. Speed and stealth is a priority – Washington’s new way to fight a war. Washington had learned some hard lessons but now will change the rules.

He catches the Hessians off guard and a fierce battle ensues. The Hessians scramble to get to their arms – finding a different kind of enemey. Fighting with a fierce spirit and bloody determination, the battle lasts less than an hour and the Hessians don’t stand a chance.

A thousand Hessians are captured or killed out of 1,500. Washington’s Christmas Day gift to America illustrates his genius. Demonstrating the Continental Army will always live to fight another day.

On December 31, 1776 it is the last day of many of the soldier’s commissions and they want to go home. Washington tells them they have done everything America has asked of them, and asks them to do it one more time. He offers them an additional $10 pay, more than a month’s salary which he did not have. Then one soldier says “Well, I might as well keep fighting” and steps forward. Then others step forward.

The tide has turned and the army will continue to exist – Washington has revived the Revolution because the army IS the Revolution.

Presidential Election – Popular Vote or Electors

Having just concluded the election by the public for the 44th President of the United States, our attention will once again turn to the constitutional requirement of the ‘Electoral College’ to meet, cast ballots for President and Vice President, and submit their votes to the President of the Senate of the United States.

What was that you said – another vote for President after we already voted?  The President is not chosen by a nation-wide popular vote, the electoral vote determines the winner.  It is the manner stipulated by the Constitution of the United States.  The Constititution does not provide for an election of the President by the public of each state.  Instead, it requires each State to ‘appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress’

Each State in their constitutions and laws and Congress in its laws has provided for the requirements for elections within the states.  However, every four years when we go to the voting booth and cast our vote for President, we are actually casting a vote for the slate of Electors of our respective states who will make up the Electoral College.  These Electors will then meet in each state, cast their votes for President and Vice President and submit it to the U. S. Senate.

Some states have laws that stipulate that the Electors are required to cast their vote in accordance with the popular vote in their state, other states do not.  There is no Constitutional provision or Federal law that would require them to do so.

On December 15th, the Electors meet in each state to cast their votes.  Of the fifty states and the District of Columbia, all but Maine and Nebraska are “winner-take-all” states where all of the state’s electoral votes go the winner of that state’s popular vote no matter what the percentage difference is between candidates.

In the drafting of the Constitution, the original proposal was for the President to be selected by the U. S. Senate.  However, after just disengaging the country from the despotic rule of the British Crown, they were extremely cautious in creating a process where the President would be beholden to such a small group of individuals instead of the people at large.  Along with other powers provided the President by the Constitution and oversight by the Senate, it was an obvious situtation that could cause cabals, intrigue and coercion.  Something they desperately wanted to avoid.  Even having the subsequent vote by the House of Representatives (one vote for each state in this case) in the case of a tie or no one receiving a majority was seen as a way of eliminating any corruption of the President by the Senate.

It is a very unique way of electing a President – one most people do not understand.  The argument against this process and in favor of just using the popular vote is one made in ignorance.  The same arguments prevail with this option – the balance of power in electing the President would reside in only the large, populated states and cities and they would be targeted for or make demands for funding, special favors, etc. in exchange for votes.  Small, less populated states and rural communities would not be necessary in this kind of election and their vote would be disenfranchised.  We truly then would end up at that point as was described by Doctor Benjamin Franklin at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention:

“…I think a General Government [is] necessary for us, and there is no Form of Government but what may be a Blessing to the People if well administered; and I believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism as other forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other.”

For more information on the Electoral College: http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/2008/

(c) Patriotic Expressions and Patriotic Minute 2008

Not for reproduction without permission of author.

The Pledge of Allegiance

Francis Bellamy wrote the Pledge for the observance of the 400^th Anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.  He was an assistant to the editor of The Youth’s Companion magazine, the leading family magazine of its day.  His job was to promote patriotism and the flying of the flag over the public schools.  He was made Chairman of the executive committee in the National Education Association for the National Public School Celebration for Columbus Day in 1892.  He felt every public and private school in the land should fly the flag.  He structured this public school program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute – his ‘Pledge of Allegiance.’

Bellamy visited President Benjamin Harrison in Washington to ask him to endorse the idea of a flag over every school house and the teaching of patriotism in all the schools.  On June 21^st, 1892 President Harrison signed the Proclamation that said “Let the National Flag float over every school house in the country and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship!”

The only well know American Flag Salute at the time was written in 1889 by Colonel Balch, and had been first used on the Flag Day, June 14^th.  His salute went as follows: “We give our heads and out hearts to God and our country; one country, one language, one Flag.” 

Bellamy decided that the new words for a salute should be more than just a Salute, it should be a vow of allegiance.  This was to be a vow of loyalty for what the flag stood for – a “Republic” founded after the American Revolution which means a nation without a king and does not necessarily imply a democracy.

Bellamy wondered what the basic national doctrines or ideals were that the nation stood for?  The high cost of the Civil War suggested three words: “one nation, indivisible.”  He was tempted to use the slogan of the French Revolution: “liberty, fraternity, equality.”  But “fraternity” was not soon to be recognized or agreed on and the word “equality” would be unacceptable to the state superintendents of education in a society that denied the vote and most civil rights to blacks and women.

The words “Liberty” and “justice” that he used are in the Preamble to the Constitution.  Among the purposes in establishing the Constitution was a desire to “establish justice” and to “secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and out prosperity.”  The words, “liberty” and “equality” are in the fifteenth and sixteenth amendments to the Constitution.  Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment says “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

The concept of equality did not appear in American constitutional law until adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment by the states in 1868 and Americans showed little interest in enforcing the spirit of liberty and equality until well after World War II.  The word, “equality,” had been in the Declaration of Independence – and in Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, which identified the United States as a nation “conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

Thus, “liberty and justice” were non-controversial and acceptable and plenty for one nation to accomplish.  Bellamy felt that if “for all” was added these last two words implied the spirit of equality and fraternity – two words he did not dare include because the pledge had to be approved by the NEA’s Executive Committee of Superintendents of Education.

When Bellamy finished writing the Pledge in August 1892, he showed it to James B. Upham, editor of The Youth’s Companion, who liked it and was first printed in Youth’s Companion on September 8, 1892.  Here are the now famous, original words:

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”

Mr. Upham suggested a salute that was used by many states up until World War II.  Bellamy first heard the Pledge recited by the students in Boston on the morning of October 21^st.  It probably followed the program’s recommended procedure: “At a signal from the Principal the pupils, in ordered ranks, hands to the side, face the Flag.  Another signal is given; every pupil give the Flag a military salute – right hand lifted, palm downward, to a line with the forehead and close to it.  Standing thus, all repeat together, slowly: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands; one Nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.”  At the words, “to my Flag,” the right hand is extended gracefully, palm upward, towards the Flag, and remains in this gesture till the end of the affirmation; whereupon all hands immediately drop to the side.  Then, still standing, as the instruments strike a chord, all will sing “America, My Country ‘tis of Thee.”

At the second National Flag Conference held in Washington, DC on Flag Day, 1924, under the leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge’s words, ‘my Flag,’ to ‘the Flag of the United States of America.’  Bellamy disliked this change, but his protest was ignored.

A further change, after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, was made in the Pledge by House Joint Resolution 243 approved by President Eisenhower on June 14, 1954.  This amended the language, by adding the words “under God,” so that it now reads “one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

(c) Patriotic Expressions and Patriotic Minute 2008

Not for reproduction without permission from author.

Manifesto

When pushed by our enemies, our nation’s teeth begin to show…

In 1778 America had just formed an alliance with France – and the British panicked!

Congress said it would discuss peace if the British would accept American independence and recall its troops.  Their answer?…an emphatic NO!

The British pressed Congress to reject the treaty with France, offered bribes to Congressmen, and threatened some dire consequences.

Congress responded with a Manifesto – a national statement of strength and confidence, warning if the British carried out their treats:

     “we will take such exemplary vengence as shall deter others from a like conduct.”

A country, called “A Sleeping Giant” a century later, started out as “The Mouse That Roared”.

(c) Patriotic Expressions and Patriotic Minute 2008

Not for reproduction without permission from author

Federal Convention – 1787

The delegates to the Federal Convention convened on May 25, 1787 to “revise the federal system of government.”

After unanimously electing George Washington, Esquire, as President of the Convention and establishing house Rules, it fell to Edmund Randolph of Virginia to “open the great subject of their mission.”  Randolph then observed:

          “…that, in revising the federal system we ought to inquire, first, into the properties which such a government ought to possess; secondly, the defects of the Confederation; thirdly, the danger of our situation; and fourthly, the remedy.”

He then proceeded to offer fifteen resolutions to remedy all the inequities and struggles with the Articles of Confederation – the basis of which he said must be the republican principle.

His seventh resolution proposed a National Executive to be chosen by the National Legislature and his title should be “His Excellency.”  Over the ensuing days there was debate on whether the National Executive should be a single person or consist of more than one.  Concern varied from patterning our selves after the British government monarchy, to establishing the Executive in more than one person in order to support it’s independece from the National Legislature.  On July 17, 1787 it was decided to be one person.

The next debates on the Executive were about how to elect the Executive.  The proposed resultion indicated being chosen by the National Legislature.  The primary objectives to this were:

1. it would lessen the independence of the Executive
2. it would give birth to intrigue and corruption between the Executive and Legislature previous to the election
3. partiality in the Executve afterwards to the friends who promoted him

Various options were proposed:

1. To be appointed by the State Executives
2. To be elected by the people at large

Gouvernoeur Morris of New York stated he believed if the people should elect, they will never fail to prefer some man of distinguished character, or services; some man of continental reputation.  Mr. Sherman of Connecticuit thought that the sense of the nation would be better expressed by the Legislatures than by the people at large.  “The latter will never be sufficiently informed of characters, and besides will never give a majority of votes to any one man.”

A third option for choosing the National Executive was proposed by Mr. Ellsworth of Connecticuit that allowed the Executive “to be chosen by Electors, appointed by the Legislatures of the States…”

The principle objection of an election of the Executive by the people at large was the disadvantage under which it would place the smaller States.  Eventually, the new Constitution would allow for election of the President by Electors appointed by each State in number to equal the total number of Senators and Representatives each State is entitled to in Congress.  This would then provide for a fair representation of the population of each State and not give an unfair advantage to the more populous States and disadvantage to the small States.

(c) Patriotic Expressions and Patriotic Minute 2008

Not for reproduction without permission from author.

Time Heals Old Wounds and Unites Former Enemies

The USS Winston Churchill, a guided missle destroyer, was on routine patrol.  The day began like most days at sea, but this day, September 11th was about to change that.

As word flashed across the military communications network of the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, high-security watches were started, and all port visits were cancelled.  After days of being on high alert, in the middle of the ocean, the Winston Churchill is hailed by the German Navy destroyer, Lutjens, requesting permission to pass close on the port side.

As the Lutjens approached, it was announced to the Winston Churchill crew she was flying not the German, but the American flag.  As she came alongside, the American flag was flying at half-mast and her crew was topside standing at silent, rigid attention in dress uniforms in honor and respect for the loss suffered by the Americans.

On her side, a sign read ‘We Stand By You.’  And on the bridge of the Winston Churchill – not a dry eye.

(c) 2008 Patriotic Expressions and Patriotic Minute

Not for reproduction without permission from author.

The Star Spangled Banner – The Story

Part VII – Final:

The fourth stanza, a pious hope for the future, should be sung more slowly than the other three and with even deeper feeling:

     Oh! Thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
     Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation,
     Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land
     Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation.
     Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
     And this be our motto – “In God is our trust.”
     And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
     O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Now that you know the story, have read the words, and understand their meaning – I hope you will look at our national anthem with new eyes.  Listen to it the next time you have a chance, with new ears.  And don’t ever let anyone take it away.

Not for reproduction without permission from author

(C) Patriotic Expressions and Patriotic Minute 2008

The Star Spangled Banner – The Story

Part VI:

In the third stanza, Francis Scott Key allows himself to gloat over the American triumph and to shout abuse at the British enemy.  In the aftermath of the bombardment, Key probably was in no mood to act otherwise.

However, during World War II, when the British were our staunchest allies against a new and more hideous enemy, it seemed that this third stanza was unnecessary and it was removed from the anthem and not sung:

     And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
     That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
     A home and a country should leave us no more?
     Their blood has washed out their foul footstep’s pollution.
     No refuge could save the hireling and slave
     From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave.
     And the star spangled banner in triumph doth wave
     O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.