The liberty of independence

Morgan Rooney
MSMU Class of 2020

(6/2020) Every year, on June 14, Americans celebrate Flag Day. My family always flew a flag in the yard and I remember when I was in elementary school and we’d watch the flag be raised every morning to the top of the flagpole. While I had heard of this tradition many times, I never knew much about the subject which prompted me to do some research.

Flag Day was celebrated for the first time in 1877. This was 100 years after the Flag Resolution of 1777. In 1885, a schoolteacher, B. J. Cigrand, arranged a celebration in his Wisconsin school district to celebrate the "Flag Birthday." For years, he advocated for the observation of the flag’s birthday on June 14. Now, flag day celebrates the stars and stripes every year for its birthday. Even though Flag Day was a nationally observed event, it wasn’t made a national holiday until August 3, 1949 when an Act of Congress designated June 14 as National Flag Day.

In December of 1775, the first national flag of the United States of America was adopted. It was called the "Grand Union Flag." Similar to the American flag today, the Grand Union Flag has thirteen alternating red and white stripes which represented the thirteen original colonies. In the top left corner of the flag was a Union Jack. While this was the first American flag, it was used for less than two years.

Because this was in revolutionary times, flying a flag that contained the Union Jack was not a great push for the American revolution. A new flag was created in order to give the nation a flag that was far from similar to the flag that represented Great Britain. This shows the flag’s direct relation to the freedom, liberty and independence of the American people. They strived for full independence, even from the Union Jack which tied them back to the empire that ruled them since they settled in the colonies.

On June 14, 1777, the Star-Spangled Banner, which contained thirteen stars at the time, was adopted as a new symbol of freedom and independence from Great Britain. It was designed by Francis Hopkinson who was a naval flag designer and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

When I was a kid, I remember when we first put up the USA flag in our front yard. It wasn’t something I had ever paid attention to before, but I began counting how many people around us also had flags hanging on the front porch. I was shocked to see that nearly half of my neighbors had the exact same thing in their yards.

This is still something I observe today. It truly shows that the flag represents something important to many people, no matter what that something is. For many, I believe this representation is of freedom. Whether it’s freedom of speech, freedom of religion or the freedom of assembly, the overall freedom we have as a country is represented in the flag.

About two years ago, I studied abroad in France and had the opportunity to visit other European countries as well. While all of these countries are ones with similar rights as the United States, a huge difference I noticed was that their flags weren’t flown nearly as often.

I would see the French flag being flown by older buildings, government buildings, and a number of other homes and businesses, however, it didn’t seem to be nearly as abundant as the American flag. Here, I see it on nearly half of houses and outside a large number of businesses. In fact, when I’m out and about, there’s rarely a point where I can’t go outside, look around and not see the Star-Spangled Banner somewhere within my line of vision.

This is something I’ve noticed about our country that makes it unique to others. We display our flag everywhere and often with pride. No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, or what religion you practice, it is your flag and with it, you have the right to your own opinions and beliefs.

I am a fifth generation American with ancestors that came from Northern Europe, especially Ireland and Norway. Most of my ancestors immigrated to the United States in the 1840s and 1850s, with a few exceptions, which was a while after the modern flag design was created. While they obviously didn’t come to the United States because of the flag itself, they came here to live a better life because of the freedoms that the flag promised. Because of my ancestors and their decision to move to the United States to practice their freedoms, I am here today and can practice my own.

While there will always be divisions in our country, something we all have in common is the flag that flies above us and gives us the right to express our different opinions, especially right now. During this complicated time, there are a variety of different opinions floating around about how to and how not to handle the situation. While we all see some points that sound absolutely ridiculous, and others that sound more rational, the flag represents the rights given to us to express our ideas, no matter how crazy they may sound to someone else, and that is something I greatly respect.

While many businesses and other place are beginning to reopen, especially where I live in Texas, many of us still find ourselves at home more than often. Many Flag Day celebrations won’t be taking place as they normally would be, however, this doesn’t mean that our nation's flag and what it represents cannot be celebrated.

This year, as things begin to return back to what was normal, it is important to recognize our freedoms and liberties as an Independent nation. Even though many of our gatherings and celebrations were unable to take place this year, we can still celebrate what we all have in common with our friends and families: Liberty.

Read other articles by Morgan Rooney