12 myths and facts about the american flag

MYTH #3: AMERICANS HAVE ALWAYS FLOWN THE FLAG Prior to the Civil War, flags were really only flown in an official capacity on ships, forts and government buildings. “In the antebellum

period, if a citizen had flown his flag on his house or carriage, people would have thought that was strange. Why is he doing that? He’s not the government,” Ansoff said. The outbreak of war

in 1861 quickly changed Americans’ attitudes about displaying the flag. “At the beginning of the Civil War there was an outburst of patriotism,” Ansoff said, “and very soon, you saw people

flying flags everywhere to show their support for the Union cause.” MYTH #4: RED, WHITE AND BLUE HAVE OFFICIAL MEANINGS The colors of the flag were not assigned any official meaning when the

first flag was adopted in 1777. The traditional meanings assigned to the colors may have arisen five years later, in 1782, when Charles Thompson, the secretary of the Continental Congress,

waxed poetic about the colors in the Great Seal of the United States, which he helped design. Thompson described the red in the seal as representing hardiness and valor; the white, purity

and innocence; and the blue, vigilance, perseverance and justice. MYTH #5: IT’S AGAINST THE LAW TO BURN THE AMERICAN FLAG In the landmark case Texas v. Johnson in 1989, the Supreme Court

ruled that desecrating the American flag is a form of speech protected by the First Amendment. Defendant Gregory Lee Johnson had burned a flag in an act of protest at the 1984 Republican

National Convention in Dallas. Prior to that ruling it was, indeed, illegal to burn the flag. Subsequent efforts on the judicial and legislative fronts to make flag burning illegal again

have failed. MYTH #6: IT’S ILLEGAL TO WEAR CLOTHING BEARING THE FLAG Wearing clothing made from an actual American flag would be a breach of etiquette, according to the American Legion, but

it said you wouldn’t be breaking the law by wearing clothing bearing a flag design: “People are simply expressing their patriotism and love of country by wearing an article of clothing that

happens to be red, white, and blue with stars and stripes. There is nothing illegal about the wearing or use of these items.” MYTH #7: A FLAG THAT TOUCHES THE GROUND MUST BE DESTROYED

According to the Flag Code, the American flag should never touch anything beneath it, including the ground, the floor or the water. “People have taken that to mean that if it ever does that,

then it should be destroyed,” said Jeff Hendricks, deputy director of Americanism at the American Legion. However, that’s not necessarily the case. Flags should be destroyed only when they

are no longer in good enough condition to be displayed. If touching the ground didn’t render the flag unfit for display, then it shouldn’t be destroyed. Once a flag is unfit for display,

burning it is the preferred method of destruction.