The annual commemoration of Flag Day (June 14) will be marked by the usual flying of the colors, punctuated by a highly anticipated military parade in Washington, D.C., to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the United States Army.
Although the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution on June 14, 1777, declaring the flag to be 13 alternating red and white stripes along with a constellation of white stars in a blue field, it wasn’t until 1916 that June 14 was officially established as Flag Day.
An editorial in The New York Times on that first Flag Day stated: “With united hearts; so, no matter what temporary bitterness and forces of division may have crept in here and there, Americans stand and will stand.”
Sound familiar? The more times change, the more they remain the same.
It’s common knowledge that the American flag’s 13 stripes represent the original colonies and 50 stars for each state of the Union – but why the red, white, and blue?
To answer that question, it might be helpful to know something about the individual responsible for designing the flag itself.
Despite what you might have been taught in grade school, the evidence suggests it wasn’t Betsy Ross, though she did sew the flag. Instead, credit goes to Francis Hopkinson, a founding father, and a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. John Adams referred to Hopkinson as a “curious little gentleman” who he described as “ingenious.”
“His head is not bigger than a large apple,” wrote Adams. “I have not seen anything yet in natural history more amusing and more entertaining than his usual appearance; yet he is genteel and well-bred, and is very social.”
Like many of those men who helped found America, Hopkinson was a strong Christian whose faith shaped and defined him. He was an Anglican who served as a vestryman and warden for various churches.
In addition to his service as a judge, he also wrote stories, poems, and satire, and even composed Christian music. In writing satire, he used the pen name, “Peter Grievous.”
But Francis Hopkinson’s faith undoubtedly influenced his design of the American flag, including his choice of its colors.
It’s long been understood that red on the flag was to reflect valor, courage and the blood shed by the many patriots willing to die for the cause. The blue represented justice, vigilance, and perseverance. White reflected the purity and idealism behind the effort to forge an independent nation.
All of those characteristics – valor, courage, sacrifice, vigilance, perseverance, and purity – enjoy parallel importance in the Christian life. Wrote John Adams to Thomas Jefferson:
The general principles, on which the Fathers achieved independence, were the only Principles in which that beautiful Assembly of young Gentlemen could Unite, and these Principles only could be intended by them in their address, or by me in my answer. And what were these general Principles? I answer, the general Principles of Christianity, in which all these Sects were United: And the general Principles of English and American Liberty.
Now I will avow, that I then believe, and now believe, that those general Principles of Christianity, are as eternal and immutable, as the Existence and Attributes of God and that those Principles of Liberty, are as unalterable as human Nature and our terrestrial, mundane System.
On the eve of Flag Day 2025, the world, too, seems upside down these days, but despite the metaphorical “bombs bursting in air” throughout culture, at first light of morning, our great flag is “still there.”
Come controversy or come calm, the American flag flies high. Long may it wave.
Image from Shutterstock.
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