The Story of Our Flag

Washington took the oath of office as first President of the United States on the steps of Federal Hall in Wall street, New York city, April 30, 1789, and for a short time the seat of government was here before being changed to Philadelphia.

The history of how Alexander Hamilton, the great Secretary of the Treasury under Washington, made the trade with Jefferson whereby the present site of the capital was selected is interesting, as showing that Hamilton, while constructing a powerful centralized government with skill and ability, as even Jefferson’s biographer admits, cared little about the location of the capital itself. The Southern States wanted it on the Potomac; the Middle and Eastern States wished it to be further north. Hamilton wanted the government to assume the State debts, brought about by the war. Jefferson and his party were opposed to it. Hamilton finally secured the support of Jefferson and his friends in Congress in support of the assumption, while he delivered to the Jefferson party the location of the capital at Washington. In after years this was a source of great discomfort to Jefferson, he claiming to have been duped by Hamilton.

ACQUISITION OF TERRITORY

In 1800 Napoleon forced Spain to cede Louisiana back to France, after thirty-seven years of ownership. The idea of LaSalle, who had looked forward to establishing here a new France, was long since forgotten, but Napoleon, now in the zenith of his power, formed the brilliant plan of colonizing this great country from the Mississippi to the Rockies and from the Gulf to the British possessions in the North, thereby hemming in the United States. Napoleon tried to subdue the Island of San Domingo, with the idea of using it as an outside base of supplies, but his troops were terribly slaughtered by the natives, and the army that he intended to send to Louisiana never came. About this time Napoleon was busy looking after England, and as after events proved needed all of his troops at home. He succeeded, however, in creating great alarm in America. The settlers west of the Alleghenies were especially disturbed. The Mississippi was practically closed for navigation, as the Spaniards, who held possession of New Orleans, would not allow them to bring their products down the river and reship, as had long been the custom.

President Jefferson appointed James Monroe and Livingston, then our minister at Paris, to call on Napoleon, and, if possible, purchase West Florida and New Orleans, the amount to be paid not to exceed $3,000,000.

Napoleon was very much in need of money to conduct his war against England, and his disastrous attempt to subdue the natives of San Domingo probably made him decide to offer the whole of Louisiana, which he did for $15,000,000. This great purchase was consummated by Monroe in 1803. This was the greatest act of Jefferson’s administration, but the people bitterly opposed it, claiming that we had no use for the additional territory. Napoleon said that in selling Louisiana to the United States “he had placed a thorn where England would some day feel it.” The acquisition of Louisiana more than doubled the area of the United States, which was 827,844 square miles, increasing it to 1,999,775 square miles. It constitutes about ten of our largest States to-day.

This State, with all its old traditions, has seen many vicissitudes. It belonged to Spain from 1565 until 1763, nearly two hundred years, when Great Britain traded Cuba for it. In 1781, the British were expelled by Spain and that country again assumed possession of Florida. In a very few years the inability which Spain has ever shown to properly govern her Colonial possessions was manifest. A war broke out between the Spaniards and the Seminole Indians of Florida and soon the whole State was in a condition of virtual anarchy. Emboldened by their successes in warfare, the Indians molested the frontier of Georgia. The Government of the United States then took an action which constituted a precedent for its action in invading Cuba in the late war with Spain. It despatched a military force into Florida under command of General Andrew Jackson. He virtually took possession of Florida and speedily restored order. His conduct excited much debate in Congress and in the Cabinet, a strong anti-expansion sentiment developing. The matter was finally settled by purchasing Florida from Spain for $5,000,000. This was done in 1819. Emigration poured into the territory from the States further north and soon the value of Florida as an acquisition to the country became evident and the anti-expansion sentiment died away. In 1845 Florida was admitted into the Union as a State. In 1861 it seceded with other Southern States and returned again to the Union in 1868.

It may be pertinent right here to say that when the United States buys or comes into possession of a tract of land it becomes the property of the country and is called a Territory, and under the Constitution it is so treated, without representation in Congress until such time as it is admitted into the Union and becomes one of the United States.

This great Territory comprising 370,472 square miles originally belonged to Mexico. In 1820 Moses Austin, a native of Connecticut, obtained a grant of land and threw it open to settlement by people from the United States, mostly the Southern States. In a few years more than 20,000 had settled there and the strong Anglo-Saxon spirit of liberty began to rebel against the oppressive Mexican rule. In a few years this feeling burst into an open revolt. Texans met and declared their independence and formed a Republic and placed an army in the field under Gen. Sam. Houston. He met the Mexicans under Gen. Santa Anna at San Jacinto in 1836 and gained a complete victory, thus achieving the independence of Texas. Next year Texas applied for admission into the Union but no action was taken by Congress for several years. Meantime in the north a strong sentiment had developed against the institution of slavery. The subject was vigorously agitated in the pulpit, in literature and in public. The Southern people, perceiving the strength of the opposition to their favorite institution, determined in self defense to acquire more territory for the sake of the strength additional votes would give them, and so in 1844 the proposal to admit Texas came up in Congress in earnest.

No concealment of the underlying purpose was made by the Southern Congressmen who led the movement. A bitter struggle followed but the annexationists prevailed and in 1845 the “Lone Star State,” as Texas had been called, was added to the Union. The South welcomed the new comer with great demonstrations, but the greetings of the North were not cordial, for in that section it was clearly understood that a great extension was given to slave territory.

The vast territory included in these two Territories was acquired mostly from Mexico in 1848 as one of the terms of the treaty of peace between the United States and that country made after the war of 1846-47. The war with Mexico was brought about by the refusal of the Mexican Government to concede the claims of Texas to land between the Rio Grande and the Nueces Rivers. The actual rights in the case were somewhat obscure, but war was eagerly undertaken by the Southern people, who believed that a further extension of slave territory would be the ultimate result. The North was less enthusiastic, for this reason, but sent a quota of troops into the field before whose valor, directed by commanding officers who later became prominent in the great war of the Rebellion, the Mexican armies were defeated. The United States paid Mexico $15,000,000 for the territory ceded under the treaty and in addition paid $3,500,000 in settlement of the claims of private individuals. The boundary line remained in dispute for five years more, until 1853, when James Gadsden negotiated a treaty with Mexico settling all questions. Under its terms the United States gained the Mesilla Valley, forming the southern part of what is now New Mexico and Arizona, and comprising 20,000,000 acres. The United States paid Mexico $10,000,000 for this land which was afterwards known as the Gadsden purchase and is so marked on the larger maps issued by the Interior Department at Washington. Including the territory acquired by the Mexican war, the State of Texas and that included in the Gadsden purchase, the whole area is sufficient to make one hundred and seventy States the size of Connecticut.

This great State was ceded to us by Mexico, being part of that country before the war. In 1848 gold was discovered by Capt. Sutter in a river near Sacramento. On examination gold was found to occur in abundance. News of the wonderful discovery drew an immense emigration into California from all parts of the world, the majority of those traveling across the plains by the way of the Isthmus of Panama being, of course, from the United States. The people who poured into the golden State lost no time in applying for admission into the Union. In 1849, one year after Sutter’s discovery, the State presented itself at the door of Congress. In 1850 California was admitted. The celerity of the operation was due to the fact the North recognized, that California would offset to an extent the growth of slave territory actually made by the admission of Texas and threatened in Arizona and New Mexico, areas peculiarly adapted by climate and other conditions to the institution of slavery.

Oregon, Washington and Idaho were part of what was called the great Oregon country. They were acquired under an agreement with Great Britain in 1846. The United States claimed the territory up to the parallel of 54° 49′, but a compromise was made and the 49th parallel accepted as the dividing line between the United States and the British possessions. The country north of the line is now known as British Columbia.

Alaska, whose area is equal to about 120 States the size of Connecticut, became the property of the United States in 1867 by purchase from Russia. The sum paid for it was $7,000,000. The purchase, negotiated by Secretary of State Seward, was denounced by many as an extravagant use of public funds because Alaska appeared to be practically worthless. The Government, however, unheeding the kind of criticism paid $200,000 in addition to the first price named to extinguish the rights of various commercial companies and thus acquired a clear title. It was soon found the supposed ice bound land was full of wealth in fisheries and lumber, the income from seal fisheries alone amounting in one year to $2,500,000. Alaska’s wealth in gold was, however, not suspected until recent years and not demonstrated until the summer of 1896, when the now famous treasure ship arrived in San Francisco having on board over $600,000 in gold, the property of 50 prospectors who had washed it out of the bars of the creeks emptying into the Yukon river. Alaska, the “ice bound, inhospitable desert of the north,” as it was designated in 1868, was a Mecca for the world for the next few months and thousands braved the dangers of Chilkoot pass to search for the yellow metal, and at this time it is estimated over 50,000 people are in that part of the Territory which two years ago was practically uninhabited.

President Grant in his second inaugural address, March 4, 1873, thus expressed himself: “I do not share in the apprehension held by many as to the danger of governments becoming weakened and destroyed by reason of their extension of territory. Commerce, education and rapid transit of thought and matter by telegraph and steam have changed all this. Rather, I believe that our Great Maker is preparing the world, in his own good way to become one nation, speaking one language, and when armies and navies will no longer be required.”

These great and interesting acquisitions to our territory have not yet entered the blue field of our flag. To a great nation and to a humane people they will look for that protection which has been pledged to them; and if it is decided that these people shall live under our starry flag, no one can look back over its history and doubt the strength and breadth of its folds.

This historic and patriotic order was named after the famous Roman Dictator and Patriot, Cincinnatus, and was founded in May, 1783, on the banks of the Hudson, by the American and French officers who had gathered there at the close of the Revolutionary war.

The resolution adopted at the forming of the society contained these words: “To perpetuate, therefore, as well the remembrance of this vast event as the mutual friendships which have been formed, of common danger, and, in many instances, cemented by the blood of the parties, the officers of the American Army do hereby, in the most solemn manner, associate, constitute and combine themselves into one society of friends to endure as long as they shall endure, or any of their eldest male posterity, and in failure thereof the collateral branches who may be judged worthy of becoming its supporters and defenders.”

Owing to the great distances between the different States, and the fact that at that time the means of transportation were slow and uncertain, it was deemed best to form societies in each of the thirteen States. This was done. One was also organized in France under the patronage of Louis XVI.

The original members included the names of Washington, Greene, Hamilton, Lafayette, Rochambeau, and Paul Jones; in fact, all the historic military and naval characters of the Revolution. Among the honorary members elected for their own lives only were the names of many signers of the Declaration of Independence.

On the pages of the country’s history appears no darker spot than that placed there by the Congress of the United States in its failure to give its soldiers the promised half pay for their services, forcing them to leave their homes and emigrate to the wild lands west of the Alleghenies, which were given to them in lieu of money. On this account several of the orders in the different States went out of existence.

The patriotic societies of the country, the names of which are given here, were all formed for the purpose of perpetuating the memory of events and of the men who in military, naval and civil positions of high trust and responsibility, “kept step to the music of the Union.”

The preservation of historical records and manuscripts and the promoting of fraternal intercourse among their members are the main inspirations of all of these patriotic societies:

Society of Colonial Wars.

Sons of the Revolution.

Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.

Grand Army of the Republic.

Sons of Veterans U. S. A.

There are three great patriotic societies, organized by the women of America, known as the Daughters of the Revolution, Colonial Dames, and the Mayflower, that may outstrip all other societies in the value and importance of their work.

DATES OF ADMISSION OF THE STATES

Delaware, Dec. 7, 1787.

Pennsylvania, Dec. 12, 1787.

New Jersey, Dec. 18, 1787.

Georgia, Jan. 2, 1788.

Connecticut, Jan. 9, 1788.

Massachusetts, Feb. 6, 1788.

Maryland, April 28, 1788.

South Carolina, May 23, 1788.

New Hampshire, June 21, 1788.

Virginia, June 25, 1788.

New York, July 26, 1788.

North Carolina, Nov. 21, 1789.

Rhode Island, May 29, 1790.

Vermont, March 4, 1791.

Kentucky, June 1, 1792.

Tennessee, June 1, 1796.

Ohio, Feb. 19, 1803.

Louisiana, April 30, 1812.

Indiana, Dec. 11, 1816.

Mississippi, Dec. 10, 1817.

Illinois, Dec. 3, 1818.

Alabama, Dec. 14, 1819.

Maine, March 15, 1820.

Missouri, Aug. 10, 1821.

Arkansas, June 15, 1836.

Michigan, Jan. 26, 1837.

Florida, March 3, 1845.

Texas, Sept. 29, 1845.

Iowa, Dec. 28, 1846.

Wisconsin, May 29, 1848.

California, Sept. 9, 1850.

Minnesota, May 11, 1858.

Oregon, Feb. 14, 1859.

Kansas, Jan. 29, 1861.

West Virginia, June 19, 1863.

Nevada, Oct. 31, 1864.

Nebraska, March 1, 1867.

Colorado, Aug. 1, 1876.

North Dakota and

South Dakota, Nov. 2, 1889.

Montana, Nov. 8, 1889.

Washington, Nov. 11, 1889.

Idaho, July 3, 1890.

Wyoming, July 10, 1890.

Utah, 1894.

DATES OF ORGANIZATION

Arizona, Feb. 24, 1863.

Alaska, July 27, 1868.

Indian Territory, June 30, 1834.

Oklahoma, April 22, 1889.

District of Columbia. March 3, 1791.

New Mexico, Sept. 9, 1850.

Commodore Perry carried our flag in 1854 into the harbors of Japan, and the first commercial treaty with that nation was made by and with the United States.

GENERAL WASHINGTON, HON GEORGE ROSS, ROBERT MORRIS, BETSY ROSS, COPYRIGHTED 1883