The Flag of the United States of America is
one of the oldest of the national standards of the world; older than the
Union Jack of Great Britain or the Tricolor of France.
During the
early days of the Revolutionary War a variety of flags were used by the
different colonies and military commands. Prominent among these were the
"Pine Tree" and Rattlesnake" flags with various arrangements and
mottoes.
Late in 1775 a committee of Congress with Benjamin
Franklin at the head, after consulting with Washington, then in command
of the army at Cambridge, decided upon the form for a new flag. This
flag consisted of thirteen stripes, red and white, with the crosses of
St. George and St. Andrew on a blue field in the canton or
union.
During 1776 and 1777 a number of flags with thirteen
stripes came into use and the need of a definite national emblem was
realized. On June 14, 1777, Congress passed an act stating "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." This was the birthday of the Flag as
we now know it and June 14 is now celebrated as "Flag Day". This flag
remained the national standard until 1795. This first display of the
Stars and Stripes by the Continental Army was when the Flag was hoisted
over Fort Stanwix, New York, on August 3, 1777.
In the meantime Vermont and Kentucky had
become states, and on January 13, 1794, Congress voted that the Flag
should have fifteen stripes and fifteen stars. This Flag remained in use
for twenty three years, and it was "The Star-Spangled Banner" of which
Francis Scott Key wrote in 1814.
In April, 1818, Congress passed
an act providing that the Flag should have the thirteen horizontal
stripes, alternate red and white, and that the union should display
twenty stars, representing the number of states then in the Union. It
also provided that on the admission of every new state to the Union a
star should be added on the following July 4th and this has been the
regulation ever since, accounting for the number of stars now
shown.
FEDERAL FLAG
CODE
The following document is known as the FEDERAL
FLAG CODE. It prescribes proper display of and respect for the United
States Flag.
This code does not impose penalties for misuse of
the United States Flag. That is left to the states and to the federal
government for the District of Columbia. Each state has its own flag
law.
The Federal Flag Code is the guide for all handling and
display of the Stars and Stripes. Here is the code in its
entirety:
PUBLIC LAW 94-344
94th CONGRESS
S. J. Res. 49
July 7, 1976
To amend the joint resolution entitled "Joint resolution to
codify and emphasize existing rules and customs pertaining to the
display and use of the flag of the United States of
America".
Resolved by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled. That the joint resolution entitled "Joint
resolution to codify and emphasize existing rules and customs
pertaining to the display and use of the flag of the United States
of America", as amended (36 U.S.C. 171-178), is amended
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SEC. 1 That the
following codification of existing rules and customs pertaining to the
display and use of the flag of the United States of America be, and is
hereby, established for the use of such civilians or civilian groups or
organizations as may not be required to conform with regulations
promulgated by one or more executive departments of the Government of
the United States. The flag of the United States for the purpose of this
chapter shall be defined according to title 4, United States Code,
Chapter 1, section 1 and section 2 and Executive Order 10834 issued
pursuant thereto.
SEC. 2 (a) It is the universal custom to
display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on
stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is
desired, the flag may be displayed twenty-four hours a day if properly
illuminated during the hours of darkness.
(b) The flag
should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.
(c)
The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement,
except when an all weather flag is displayed.
(d)
The flag
should be displayed on all days, especially on:
- New Year's Day, January 1
- Inauguration Day, January 20
- Lincoln's Birthday, February 12
- Washington's Birthday, third Monday in February
- Easter Sunday (variable)
- Mother's Day, second Sunday in May
- Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May
- Memorial Day (half-staff until noon), the last Monday in May
- Flag Day, June 14
- Independence Day, July 4
- Labor Day, first Monday in September
- Constitution Day, September 17
- Columbus Day, second Monday in October
- Navy Day, October 27
- Veterans Day, November 11
- Thanksgiving Day, fourth Thursday in November
- Christmas Day, December 25
- and such other days as may be proclaimed by the President of the
United States
- The birthdays of States (date of admission;)
- and on State Holidays.
(e) The flag should be
displayed daily on or near the main administration building of every
public institution.
(f) The flag should be displayed in or
near every polling place on election days.
(g) The flag
should be displayed during school days in or near every
schoolhouse.
SEC. 3 That the flag, when carried in a
procession with another flag or flags, should be either on the marching
right; that is, the flag's own right, or if there is a line of other
flags, in front of the center of that line.
(a) The flag
should not be displayed on a float in a parade except from a staff, or
as provided in subsection (i).
(b) The flag should not be
draped over the hood, top, sides, or back of a vehicle or of a railroad
train or a boat. When the flag is displayed on a motor car, the staff
should be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right
fender.
(c) No other flag or pennant should be placed
above or, if on the same level, to the right of the flag of the United
States of America, except during church services conducted by naval
chaplains at sea, when the church pennant may be flown above the flag
during church services for the personnel of the Navy.
(See
Public Law 107, page 4)
(d) The flag of the United
States of America, when it is displayed with another flag against a wall
from crossed staffs, should be on the right, the flag's own right, and
its staff should be in front of the staff of the other
flag.
(e) The flag of the United States of America should
be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of
flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and
displayed from staffs.
(f) When flags of states, cities,
or localities, or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard
with the flag of the United States, the latter should always be at the
peak. When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the
United States should be hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or
pennant may be placed above the flag of the United States or to the
United States Flag's right.
(g) When flags of two or more
nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs of the
same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size.
International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above
that of another nation in time of peace.
(h) When the flag
of the United States is displayed from a staff projecting horizontally
or at an angle from the window sill, balcony, or front of a building,
the union of the flag should be placed at the peak of the staff unless
the flag is at half staff. When the flag is suspended over a sidewalk
from a rope extending from a house to a pole at the edge of the
sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out, union first, from the
building.
(i) When displayed either horizontally or
vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the
flag's own right, that is to the observer's left. When displayed in a
window, the flag should be displayed in the same way, with the union or
blue field to the left of the observer in the street.
(j)
When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it should be
suspended vertically with the union to the north in an east and west
street or to the east in a north and south street.
(k)
When used on a speaker's platform, the flag, if displayed flat, should
be displayed above and behind the speaker. When displayed from a staff
in a church or public auditorium, the flag of the United States of
America should hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of
the audience, and in the position of honor at the clergyman's or
speaker's right as he faces the audience. Any other flag so displayed
should be placed on the left of the clergyman or speaker or to the right
of the audience.
(l) The flag should form a distinctive
feature of the ceremony of unveiling a statue or monument, but it should
never be used as the covering for the statue or
monument.
(m) The flag, when flown at half-staff, should
be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the
half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before
it is lowered for the day. On Memorial Day the flag should be displayed
at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff. By
order of the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the
death of principal figures of the United States Government and the
Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to
their memory. In the event of the death of other officials or foreign
dignitaries, the flag is to be displayed at half-staff according to
Presidential instructions or orders, or in accordance with recognized
customs or practices not inconsistent with law. In the event of the
death of a present or former official of the government of any State,
territory, or possession of the United States, the Governor of that
State, territory, or possession may proclaim that the National flag
shall be flown at half-staff. The flag shall be flown at half-staff
thirty days from the death of the President or a former President; ten
days from the day of death of the Vice President, the Chief Justice or a
retired Chief Justice of the United States, or the Speaker of the House
of Representatives; from the day of death until interment of an
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an executive or
military department, a former Vice President, or the governor of a
State, territory, or possession; and on the day of death and the
following day for a Member of Congress. As used in this subsection-
(1) the term "half-staff" means the position of the
flag when it is one-half the distance between the top and bottom
of the staff;
(2) the term 'executive or military
department' means any agency listed under sections 101 and 102 of
title 5, United States Code; and
(3) the term
'Member of Congress' means a Senator, a Representative, a
Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto
Rico.
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(n) When the flag
is used to cover a casket, it should be so placed that the union is at
the head and over the left shoulder. The flag should not be lowered into
the grave or allowed to touch the ground.
(o) When the
flag is suspended across a corridor or lobby in a building with only one
main entrance, it should be suspended vertically with the union of the
flag to the observer's left upon entering. If the building has more than
one main entrance, the flag should be suspended vertically near the
center of the corridor or lobby with the union to the north, when
entrances are to the east and west, or to the east when entrances are to
the north and south. If there are entrances in more than two directions,
the union should be to the east.
SEC. 4 That no disrespect
should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag
should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State
flags, and organizations or institutional flags are to be dipped as a
mark of honor.
(a) The flag should never be displayed with
the union down except as a signal of dire distress in instances of
extreme danger to life or property.
(b) The flag should never
touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or
merchandise.
(c) The flag should never be carried flat or
horizontally, but always aloft and free.
(d) The flag
should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should
never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to
fall free. Bunting of blue, white, and red, always arranged with the
blue above, the white in the middle, and the red below, should be used
for covering a speaker's desk, draping the front of the platform, and
for decoration in general.
(e) The flag should never be
fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to
be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.
(f) The
flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.
(g)
The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor
attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design,
picture, or drawing of any nature.
(h) The flag should
never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying or
delivering anything.
(i) The flag should never be used for
advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be
embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like,
printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything
that is designed for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should
not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is
flown.
(j) No part of the flag should ever be used as a
costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the
uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of
patriotic organizations. The flag represents a living country and is
itself considered a living thing. Therefore, the lapel flag pin being a
replica, should be worn on the left lapel near the
heart.
(k) The flag, when it is in such condition that it
is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a
dignified way preferably by burning.
SEC. 5 During the
ceremony of hoisting or lowering the flag or when the flag is passing in
a parade or in review, all persons present except those in uniform
should face the flag and stand at attention with the right hand over the
heart. Those present in uniform should render the military salute. When
not in uniform, men should remove their headdress with their right hand
and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Aliens
should stand at attention. The salute to the flag in a moving column
should be rendered at the moment the flag passes.
SEC. 6
During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all
present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the
flag with the right hand over the heart. Men not in uniform should
remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left
shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should
render the military salute at the first note of the anthem and retain
this position until the last note. When the flag is not displayed, those
present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they
would if the flag were displayed there.
SEC. 7
The Pledge
of Allegiance to the Flag, "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the
United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, One
Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for
all", should be rendered by standing at attention facing the
flag with the right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should
remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left
shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should
remain silent, face the flag and render the military
salute.
SEC. 8 Any rule or custom pertaining to the
display of the flag of the United States of America, set forth herein,
may be altered, modified, or repealed, or additional rules with respect
thereto may be prescribed, by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
of the United States, whenever he deems it to be appropriate or
desirable; and any such alteration or additional rule shall be set forth
in a proclamation.
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