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Home , Flag day, Flag Day (United States)

Day Information

• Commemorates the date in 1777 when the approved the design for its first . • Bernard J Cigrand, Wisconsin schoolteacher, urged his students to celebrate the “Flag Birthday” on 14th, 1885. • Cigrand wrote an essay published in a newspaper, urging Americans to proclaim the date as the day to celebrate the flag. • 1888 William T Kerr of founded the American Association of Western Pennsylvania. • George Morris of Connecticut is said to have organized the first formal celebration of the day in Hartford in 1861 th • 1916 Pres. proclaimed as the official date for Flag Day and in 1946 the US Congress permanently established the date as National Flag Day. • Flag day is not an official federal holiday, but Pennsylvania celebrates it as a state holiday. th • Every year the US President delivers an address and proclaims the week of June 14 as National Flag Week, encouraging Americans to fly US during that week. • It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777, by resolution of the Second . The Flag Resolution, passed on June 14, 1777, stated: "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 Stars and Stripes originated as a result of a resolution adopted by the Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress at on June 14, 1777. The resolution read: "Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thir- teen stars, white in a blue field representing a new constellation. " • The also celebrates the U.S. Army birthday on this date; Congress adopted "the American continental army" after reaching a consensus position in the Committee of the Whole on June 14, 1775. • The custom of flying flags 24 hours a day over the east and west fronts of the Capitol building started during . • The original “Star-Spangled Banner,” was 30 by 42 feet and made by Mary Pickersgill in her home in , from 1807 to 1857. • Robert G Heft was the designer of the current United States 50-star flag. He has also designed a 51 -star flag that would be used if a new state joins the United States. He was born in Saginaw, Michi- gan. • Heft designed the current United States flag as a school project in Lancaster, Ohio when he was 17 years old. He received a B- for his project from his teacher, Stanley Pratt. After talking about the project, he reached an agreement with his teacher that, if the flag was selected as the official flag by the United States Congress, he would get a better grade for the project. Heft's design was cho- sen out of more than 1,500 designs that were given to United States President Dwight D. Eisen- hower, and his teacher changed his grade to an A. • After graduating from college, he became a high school teacher and later a college professor. He was also mayor of Napoleon, Ohio for 28 years. • Heft passed away on December 12, 2009, while living in Saginaw, MI. He was 67 years old.