The Flag of the USA
The flag of the USA. Americans celebrate Flag Day on June the 14th. On this day in 1777 the Congress adopted a resolution stating that the flag of a new nation should contain 13 horizontal stripes to symbolize the 13 colonies, and 13 white stars to symbolize the unity and equality of these colonies. In 1776 after the colonies had declared their independence from Great Britain, George Washington Welcome to the USA! and 2 other revolutionary leaders were assigned the task of designing a national flag. The colours they chose were red for courage, white for liberty, and blue for loyalty. According to American legend, they brought their design to Betsy Ross, an excellent seamstress who lived in Philadelphia. She followed the sketch exactly but offered to make five-pointed stars instead of six-pointed. The name of Betsy Ross is well known to Americans. The American flag has been redesigned many times. Today the flag consists of 13 horizontal stripes alternately red and white equal to the number of the original states with a blue union marked with white stars equal in number to 50 states today. They call their flag "Stars and Stripes". Sometimes these words are used as the name of the whole country. In the elevated speech the flag is called "Old Glory". But if somebody wants to express his disapproval he may call the flag “gridiron”. Each pupil must take a solemn pledge of allegiance “to the flag of the USA". They learn by heart the following text: "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".
|
