Michael Corcoran - For Which It Stands: An Anecdotal Biography of the American Flag

A T THE END OF 1776, the members of the Continental Congress hotfooted it from Philadelphia to Baltimore, compelled to do so by the uncomfortable proximity of the British armies in New Jersey under General Lord Charles Cornwallis. Six months after they had declared the United States a sovereign nation, there was no shortage of worries for the itinerant Congress. Of primary concern was the ongoing fight to establish independence; most alarming was the dire situation of George Washingtons army, which numbered just a few thousand poorly supplied men, many of whom were reaching the end of their one-year enlistment. There was also the matter of devising a set of laws for the new country, a debate begun shortly after the issuing of the Declaration of Independence. By the time the Congress felt safe enough to move back to Philadelphia in March 1777, the Articles of Confederation were still not ratified, and there was another situation that required urgent attention: namely, the attempt to secure foreign aid so that the war could be continued.

On June 14, 1777, in the midst of much more pressing business, the Marine Committee of the Congress scratched out a single sentence that led to the establishment of what would eventually become the worlds most recognized symbol: Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.

The resolution was passed without a shred of romance; angels did not appear over Philadelphia blowing trumpets or singing, nor did Mel Gibson charge into battle a few weeks later carrying the new banner, cutting down the dastardly Redcoats with his avenging sword. Rather, the resolution establishing the flag was passed in the ordinary course of business by the Congress, a single sentence squeezed in among pages of resolutions. Directly preceding the flag resolution came this one: Resolved, That the marine committee be empowered to give such directions respecting the continental ships of war in the river Delaware as they think proper in case the enemy succeed in their attempts on the said river. Immediately after the flag resolution, the Congress noted that The council of the state of Massachusetts bay having represented by letter to the president of the Congress that Capt. John Roach sometime since appointed to command the continental ship of war the Ranger is a person of doubtful character and ought not to be entrusted with such a command. Faced with this personnel problem, the Congress resolved to replace Roach with John Paul Jones. (In later years, Jones was fond of telling anyone who would listen that he and the flag were inextricably linked, having been decreed on the same day, as it were.)

The creation of a new national flag had been on the minds of the members of Congress for some time. Marine-supply merchants in Philadelphia had been nagging the governing body about a new flag, so that they could make and sell it. Commanders of both land and naval forces inquired in letters to headquarters about which flag they should use. The need for a standardized flag was obvious, particularly because of the crucial communication and identification purposes banners served in eighteenth century warfare, but not a priority when the survival of the infant republic was in serious jeopardy.

One reason that the Congress didnt act with greater urgency in describing and approving a national flag was that there already was an American flagthey just hadnt signed off on it. Since January 2, 1776, a banner known as the Continental Colors had been the de facto flag of the nation. The Continental Colors had thirteen stripes; in some cases, the stripes were red and white, but there were often blue stripes, as well. The upper-left corner of the flag (the part the Congress referred to as the blue field, but primarily known as the canton) featured the original British Union Jack, which differed slightly from its modern incarnation. It was this flag that was raised over Prospect Hill, about a mile from Harvard Square in current-day Somerville, Massachusetts, on January 2, 1776, so that the British army in Boston could see it. The Continental Colors was the national flag on July 4, 1776, the day independence was declared. Even some other nations recognized the Continental Colors as the flag of the United States; when the American ship Andrea Doria made her way into the Caribbean harbor of St. Eustatius on November 16, 1776, she was flying the Continental Colors. The Andrea Doria fired a salute to the Dutch fort on the coast of the island, and the Dutch gunners returned the favor in kind. This was the first recorded acknowledgment of American independence and the new nations flag.

Still, there was something not quite right about the Continental Colors, and that something was plain to see: the canton consisting of the Union Jack. Its inclusion in the flags design reflected an early hope that the hostilities between the colonies and Great Britain would not lead to a permanent schism, but its presence was jarring and contradictory as the former colony fought to wrest its independence from the British.

On June 3, 1777, a request was presented to the Congress by a Native American named Thomas Green. In accordance with what by then had become established custom, Green sought the flag of the new nation to present to his tribe. Both the British and the French had established this custom by presenting, among other things, silver, wristbands, money, and flags to various tribes in an attempt to be received favorably by the natives. Greens request, combined with those of the merchants and the military, prompted the Congress to realize the time had come to do something about the flag; after all, having native allies could prove useful in the conduct of the war. At the time of Greens request, any hope of avoiding a total break with the British had long since vanished. Aware of the obvious relationship between the Continental Colors and the Union Jack, the Congress realized that presenting the flag then in use would be a muddled statement of independence. Thus, the commitment to the Stars and Stripes was made on June 14, 1777.