--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Roberts, B. H. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 19 number: 11 published: 1916-09 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Brigham H. Roberts, "Flag of the United States of America—Our Country," *Improvement Era* 19, no. 11 (September 1916): 973–979.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera19011unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera19011unse start_page: 973 end_page: 979 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1916-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera19011unse publication_year: 1916 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1916, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Flag of the United States of America—Our Country — Flag of the United States of America— Our Country* BY B. 11. ROBERTS When men would intensify utterance, and throw soul, heart, might, passion, aspirations, vital truths, fundamental principles, into one representation, they adopt some symbol to express it, they incarnate it in some concrete thing. In like spirit men adopt national standards, emblazon shields, fashion coats of arms, or flags. The eagles of Rome and of France were in their time an inspiration to these conquest-loving people as was the banner of the Cross to the Crusaders. ; The Crescent and the Star of the orient, on the other hand, was as much an inspiration to the Mohammedan hosts as was the Banner of the Cross to the Christian Invaders. And so throughout the experience of man; he creates symbols for his principles, his truth, his aspirations. So with the Fathers of our Great Republic ; they, too, must have a standard, a thing which, when looked upon, would, as with one word, thunder to their souls the — things they hoped to achieve the things for which they stood. This, as we know, was not achieved at one stroke. Various insignia were used to express their cause or purpose. In Virginia, in the early part of the struggle against British tyranny, the patriots adopted the "Snake Hag," the coiled rattle snake with the warning injunction, "Don't Tread on Me," and the immortal words of Patrick Henry, "Liberty or Death !" The men of Massachusetts adopted the "Pine Tree Flag," inscribed with the words, "An Appeal to Heaven." In South Carolina, Col. Moultrie, in Charleston harbor, raised the blue flag with a silver crescent in the right hand corner, and the single word "Liberty" inscribed upon it. On the First of January, 1776, Washington raised the flag of thirteen alternating red and white stripes, each stripe representing a colony, with the British "Union Jack" in the upper corner; and, finally, Congress, on June 14, 1777, authorized the present National Banner, The Stars and Stripes. The thirteen alternating stripes of white and red, with the field of blue in the upper corner, in which blazes out a star for each of the sovereign states — forty-eight now, all told. The thirteen stripes still stand for the thirteen original states, which also are *An address delivered as a part of a Scout program at the Deseret Gymnasium, before Scouts and Scout Masters at the M. I. A. conference, Thursday, June 8, 1916. ;; 974 IMPROVEMENT ERA represented with the other states by stars in the field of blue, at once their back ground and their bond of union. And now let us contemplate what this flag stands for. First it stands for the liberty of man and by standing for the ; liberty of man, it stands for all things dear to him, —for the dignity of manhood. Without liberty, dignity of manhood is impossible. In fact, there is no content in this splendid word manhood where liberty is not. In standing for the liberty of man our flag stands for man's right to life; his right to be free; his right to the pursuit of happiness. The American flag not only stands for these things, in a declarative way, but it is the emblem of the institutions and government which secure these blessings to man. It stands for the principles that in government the people are sovereigns that the ; government is merely the machinery by which these sovereigns secure their rights. Government officers are, therefore, not masters of the people, nor even "rulers ;" they are the people's servants. The flag stands for the sovereignty of the people, then, and for the principle that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, a declaration which sounded the death knell of the old theory of "the divine right of kings." The flag stands for the freedom of speech and of the press for the supremacy of civil over military authority. The flag stands for religious freedom and the Constitution ; forbids Congress making laws for the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The great truth is recognized, under our flag, that religion is a matter between the individual conscience and the Creator. But while the flag stands for all these things, which make for and sustain the liberty of man, it is no lawless liberty which it guarantees. Perhaps the phrase "lawless liberty" will be held to be inadmissible ; for, at bottom, of course, there is no such thing as "lawless liberty." The liberty our flag guarantees is "liberty under the law ;" liberty secured and maintained by law the right to do what the law does not forbid, and conformity with what the law commands. Orderly freedom, then, is what our flag represents, not license, and not anarchy. The flag stands for the government for the sovereignty of ; the nation in things that are national for the sovereignty of the ; states in the things that are reserved, by the Constitution, to the states and to the people respectively. It stands for an indissoluble Union of indestructible states. It declares the Constitution of the Union, and the laws passed in pursuance of it, to be the supreme law of the land. It represents the right and power of the general government to execute the laws of the Union in every state and territory, acting, in the discharge of that function, directly upon individuals and corporations within the states. This FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES 975 is the new principle in our Republic, which distinguishes it from all Republics that preceded it and which makes it effective ; as a government ; giving to it the undoubted power of perpetuity, makes it, in fact, a nation. This principle, crystalized in our national Constitution, makes it possible for a republican form of government to extend over a large empire of territory ;a thing of which ancient authorities on civil government very much doubted. DeTocqueville declares this to be the unique principle which differentiates the American republic from all others that have existed. Yet, while this element of power exists in the national government, it is to be exercised only within the express grants of power in the Constitution, it being part of the Constitution itself that powers not granted are withheld; and the whole scheme of American government, which is but the collected means of preserving the liberty of the citizens, and the good order of society, is subject to such alterations, as experience shall find warrantable. In a word, the government, both state and national, is answerable to the people. This, by the way, at the present point we have reached in the evolution of our system of government, is very interesting. We have been so charmed by the never-to-be-forgotten phrases of Lincoln at Gettysburg, uniting in a very profound declaration, in a prayer in fact, that "government of the people, for the people, and by the people, might not perish from the earth" — that we have overlooked, doubtless, the source whence this formula was largely drawn, namely, the second speech of Daniel Webster on Foote's Resolution, (delivere 1 in January, 1830). Mr. Webster then 'declared that the government was "the people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people." The government, then, is the people's government our gov- ; ernment for which the flag stands and the flag, with all this that ; the flag stands for, is the sovereign people's flag. What a world of things is generalized in "Old Glory!" All the principles and truths of civil government; all the aspirations of a people who feel their liberty, enjoy their rights, and aspire to the attainment of all that is possible to a free people, safeguarded by powerful governments, local and national. THE MISSION OF THE UNITED STATES As no man lives to himself alone, so no state keeps the effects of its life to itself. Tt for others; its success or lives failure is a vindication of it, or a confession of ina^equacv of the principles upon which it is founded. Judged from this viewpoint, how glorious the achievements of the people living for one hundred and forty years under the flag which represents the principles upon which the government of the United States is found 976 IMPROVEMENT ERA cd ! Our national cixstcncc and success are a vindication of free institutions. They demonstrate the ability of a people for selfgovernment. In population the Republic has increased from less than three millions, at the time our nation's flag was first unfurled, to one hundred millions of people now from thirteen colonies, ; to forty-eight sovereign states from the possession of a fringe ; of territory along the Atlantic coast, to the possession of the great Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Missouri valleys, and thence to the conquest of our intermountain and Pacific coast west, to say nothing of our possession of Alaska, and our insular possessions in the Pacific ocean — the Pacific ocean, destined to become the world's greater Mediterranean of the twentieth century. Paralleling the development of territorial possessions has been the development in commerce, trade, agriculture, mining, arts, sciences, and general educational enlightenment for, keep- ; ing in mind the principles of the founders of the Republic, our later statesmen, as well as the early fathers, have kept in mind the fact that a self-governing people must be an enlightened people. Our success in all these activities, the nation-wide prosperity that our people enjoy, demonstrates the great truth that give man his freedom, and each one equal opportunities for development with his fellows, and you have then adopted the best possible arrangement under which men can work out their destiny both as individuals and as communities. Moreover, our success has not been confined to our own people. In the early decades of the last century, perhaps more than of late, our country was spoken of as "an asylum of the oppressed of all nations." And that, by the wav. has been something more than a figure of speech. Columbia's shores have been indeed "a home to those beyond the seas, where tyrants rule no more." Nor does this mark the limitation of our helpfulness in the world's affairs. The influence of our success as a nation of free men, has been an inspiration to patriots in other lands, who for themselves and for their people have striven to obtain larger freedom, safeguarded by the adoption of at least some of our principles within their own forms of government. This cardinal doctrine of ours, the liberty of man, the sovereignty of the citizens, and the necessary corollary that governments derive their iust powers from the consent of the governed, has entered as leaven into the systems of government in many other countries. France, for example, after coquetting, and even after indulging, in "trial marriages." with monarchial forms of government, at last, following our example, settled down to republican government under which she has had more stability of administration in civil affairs than under any form of government with which she ; FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES 977 has experimented in recent centuries and under which now she ; is waging- one of the most stupendous wars of all her history, and so steadily maintaining her course as to win the admiration of the world. England, instructed by her experience with her American colonies, now grants a wide measure of local self-government to her colonies, which, had she granted to her American settlements, there would have been no American Revolution no severing of ; bonds with the Anglo Saxon Empire no "Great Republic" to ; instruct the world. But Divine Providence doubtless brought to pass the issues out of which grew our national existence. Japan, awakened by the voice of America in the middle of last century, thundered at her through the saluting guns of the American navy, commanded by Commodore Perry, awoke from her slumber of ages. She arose from the isolation of centuries and a few decades later changed her form of absolute government to a constitutional monarchy, with a parliament in which is expressed the will of her people, and has steadily forged to the front as one of the modern world powers. Russia has so far modified her autocratic government that she admits the voice of her people to be heard in imperial affairs through her Duma, an advisory legislative body, destined in time, undoubtedly, to develop into an effective parliament. Turkey has compelled the abdication of her tyrant ruler and ; by the voice of the people she has placed on the throne of that ancient empire a ruler of her choice curtailed executive power, ; and established a legislative division of government to enact laws for the country. China within the past few years has overthrown the ancient Manchu dynasty and proclaimed a republic. And while there was recently a reversion to the monarchial form of government, it has within the past month been repudiated and the republic reestablished. When such things can happen in China, the day of miracles has not ceased. I do not believe it is American mania, nor undue American egotism, to say that this march of liberty, throughout these countries, had its origin in the shot fired by the embattled farmers of — Concord and Lexington the shot "heard round the world ;" and the unfurling of the American flag as the ensign of human freedom and republican government in our own God-blessed land of America. Pardon me, but those of us who believe that these continents of the western hemisphere constitute a great modern "land of Zion," must needs regard this circumstance of free institutions being born in our country, vouchsafed by our constitutions, state and national, and the demonstration of the success of free institutions through about a century and a half of time — we may be : — 978 IMPROVEMENT ERA — pardoned, I say, for regarding all this as the progressive fulfil- — ment of the ancient prophecy "The law shall go forth from Zion." Truly this "law" of human freedom, for which our flag stands, had its modern birth here in our country, and here has received the demonstration of its great success. Then "God bless the land of Washington, The land we love so well, Where liberty has smiled upon Each forest, lake and dell; Where institutions, priceless, free, Have made Columbia's shore A home for those beyond the seas, Where tyrants rule no more." "God bless our land, dear freedom's land; And guard the old Red, White and Blue, Oh, shield it from the traitor's hand, And keep us patriots true." Usually I am not long on poetry, but there is a description of the orgin of the American flag in verse by Joseph Rodman Drake that comes to me from the recollections of my boyhood reading, and which I consider most beautiful "When Freedom from her mountain-height Unfurled her standard to the air, She tore the azure robe of night, And set the stars of glory there. She mingled with its gorgeous dyes The milky baldric of the skies, And striped its pure, celestial white, With streakings of the morning light. "Flag of the free heart's hope and home! By angel hands to valor given! Thy stars have lit the welkin dome, And all thy hues were born in heaven. Forever float that standard sheet! Where breathes the foe but falls before us, With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us?" WHAT THE UNITED STATES FLAG MEANS TO THE M. I. A. BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA Of course it has become a common-place fact of our knowledge that the flag of the United States represents the union of the states, each star in the blue field a state, and the alternating red and white stripes the thirteen original colonies which became ; ; ; ; FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES 979 states, — and the whole constitutes the national emblem the ensign of the nation. I think, however, the flag should suggest all this in greater detail to the M. I. A. Boy Scouts of America, and much more. It is said in the Declaration of Independence that "these truths are self-evident, that all men are created equal [i. e. before the law] ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- ; piness ; that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." In what we accept in our religious faith as a revelation from God, it is said that, "It is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another. And for this purpose [that is, that men might not be in bondage one to another] have I [the Lord] established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up to this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood." Now, with these ideas in mind, let us see what the flag may symbolize for the M. I. A. Boy Scouts: The unbroken field of blue should in their thought symbolize the Union of the states, each state represented by a fixed star in this blue field each star standing for an indestructible state of the ; indissoluble Union. The stars are five pointed. So considered they may represent the five great and self-evident political principles on which the government is founded —the immortal principles of the Declaration of Independence: 1. The equality of men before the law 2. The right of men to live 3. The right of men to be free 4. The right of men to pursue happiness 5. Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. The white stripes symbolize the purity of the patriotism of the people the red stripes, the blood that has been shed for the ; establishment of these principles and the maintenance of this nation, and by which the land and the government have been sanctified. The flag thus represents all that in civil government men can live for and to maintain which, when duty calls, they can ; even afford to die. Accept this formula, M. I. A. Boy Scouts of America, as to what the United States flag means to you, and you will fall behind none of your Boy Scout compatriots in interpretation of, and in appreciation of your country's flag.