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Friday, July 4, 2025
JULY 4th In Mt. Pleasant
This Flag became the Official United States Flag on July 4th, 1896. A star was added for the admission of Utah on January 4th, 1896, and was to last for 12 years. The Presidents to serve under this flag were Grover Cleveland (1893-1897), William McKinley (1897-1901),and Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909).
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| Mt. Pleasant Relic Home |
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Hilda Madsen Longdorf records in the Mt. Pleasant History Book the following:
The Fourth of July was appropriately celebrated. Wellington Seeley and George Frandsen had been appointed to see that a liberty pole was erected and that the American Flag was hoisted at sunrise. The 24th of July, honoring the pioneers, was also fittingly celebrated.
In the evenings, the voices of the children could be heard at their gatherings in the street. Among their popular games were Steal Sticks, Stink Base, Pomp, Pomp pull away, and many other similar games. For the grown-ups, there was buggy riding behind spirited horses, and with the first fall of snow, sleigh riding, in bob sleighs, and later on in the fancy cutter, drawn by fancy horses, bedecked with strands of tingling bells. There was always dancing.
Rasmus Frandsen and Perry McArthur were appointed managers and conducted all the dances. Sometimes other musicians joined the John Waldermar, Lars Nielsen group in furnishing the music.
How did the Fourth of July become a national holiday?
For the first 15 or 20 years after the Declaration was written, people didn’t celebrate it much on any date. It was too new and too much else was happening in the young nation. By the 1790s, a time of bitter partisan conflicts, the Declaration had become controversial. One party, the Democratic-Republicans, admired Jefferson and the Declaration. But the other party, the Federalists, thought the Declaration was too French and too anti-British, which went against their current policies.
By 1817, John Adams complained in a letter that America seemed uninterested in its past. But that would soon change.
After the War of 1812, the Federalist party began to come apart and the new parties of the 1820s and 1830s all considered themselves inheritors of Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans. Printed copies of the Declaration began to circulate again, all with the date July 4, 1776, listed at the top. The deaths of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams on July 4, 1826, may even have helped to promote the idea of July 4 as an important date to be celebrated.
Celebrations of the Fourth of July became more common as the years went on and in 1870, almost a hundred years after the Declaration was written, Congress first declared July 4 to be a national holiday as part of a bill to officially recognize several holidays, including Christmas. Further legislation about national holidays, including July 4, was passed in 1939 and 1941.https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=823365018368490611#editor/target=post;postID=612198047640260485
In the evenings, the voices of the children could be heard at their gatherings in the street. Among their popular games were Steal Sticks, Stink Base, Pomp, Pomp pull away, and many other similar games. For the grown-ups, there was buggy riding behind spirited horses, and with the first fall of snow, sleigh riding, in bob sleighs, and later on in the fancy cutter, drawn by fancy horses, bedecked with strands of tingling bells. There was always dancing.
Rasmus Frandsen and Perry McArthur were appointed managers and conducted all the dances. Sometimes other musicians joined the John Waldermar, Lars Nielsen group in furnishing the music.
Game: Pump, Pump, Pull AwayTwo 20 ft long imaginary lines are drawn about 50 ft apart. All the players line up on one or the other line. “It” stands between these two lines and calls out to both sides “Pump, Pump, Pull Away, Come Out Or I’ll Pull You Out.” Players from both sides try to race to the other side without getting caught by “It.” While the players are racing to the opposite side “It” tries to catch one of the players and taps him/her lightly three times on the back. If this player cannot get away before “It” has so tapped him, this player also becomes “It.” Now when the lead “It” calls out the same phrase the players again try to get safely to the other imaginary line. Both “It” people can catch these players and tap them three times gently on the back. Anyone caught becomes “It.” Sometimes a number of “It” persons will gang up on a person to catch him/her. The goal of the game is to be the last person caught. The last person caught becomes “It” for the next round of the game.
The following is taken from ConstitutionFacts.com https://www.constitutionfacts.com/
So what did happen on July 4, 1776?
The Continental Congress approved the final wording of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. They'd been working on it for a couple of days after the draft was submitted on July 2nd and finally agreed on all of the edits and changes.
July 4, 1776, became the date that was included on the Declaration of Independence, and the fancy handwritten copy that was signed in August (the copy now displayed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.) It’s also the date that was printed on the Dunlap Broadsides, the original printed copies of the Declaration that were circulated throughout the new nation. So when people thought of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 was the date they remembered.
In contrast, we celebrate Constitution Day on September 17th of each year, the anniversary of the date the Constitution was signed, not the anniversary of the date it was approved. If we’d followed this same approach for the Declaration of Independence we’d being celebrating Independence Day on August 2nd of each year, the day the Declaration of Independence was signed!
How did the Fourth of July become a national holiday?
For the first 15 or 20 years after the Declaration was written, people didn’t celebrate it much on any date. It was too new and too much else was happening in the young nation. By the 1790s, a time of bitter partisan conflicts, the Declaration had become controversial. One party, the Democratic-Republicans, admired Jefferson and the Declaration. But the other party, the Federalists, thought the Declaration was too French and too anti-British, which went against their current policies.
By 1817, John Adams complained in a letter that America seemed uninterested in its past. But that would soon change.
After the War of 1812, the Federalist party began to come apart and the new parties of the 1820s and 1830s all considered themselves inheritors of Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans. Printed copies of the Declaration began to circulate again, all with the date July 4, 1776, listed at the top. The deaths of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams on July 4, 1826, may even have helped to promote the idea of July 4 as an important date to be celebrated.
Celebrations of the Fourth of July became more common as the years went on and in 1870, almost a hundred years after the Declaration was written, Congress first declared July 4 to be a national holiday as part of a bill to officially recognize several holidays, including Christmas. Further legislation about national holidays, including July 4, was passed in 1939 and 1941.https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=823365018368490611#editor/target=post;postID=612198047640260485
Just once a year, July 4th, we take the Relic Home's 45 star flag out of its display case and let it grace the festivities of the day.
The 45-Star flag became the official United States Flag on July 4, 1896. A star was added for the admission of Utah on January 4th, 1896 and was to last for 12 years. The Presidents who served under this flag were: Grover Cleveland (1893-1897), William McKinley (1897-1901), and Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909).
The Spanish - American War was fought under this flag; a conflict between the Kingdom of Spain and the United States of America that took place from April to August of 1898.
The above timeline is courtesy of: http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagfact.htmlFlag Timeline
States and their dates of admission are shown in bold red. Starting in 1819, the updated flag becomes legal on the Fourth of July following the date of admission.
| 1775 |  |
| 1775 |  |
| 1775 |  |
| 1775 |  |
| 1775 |  |
| 1776 |  |
| 1776 |  |
| 1777 |  |
| 1777? |  |
| 1777 |  |
| 1777 |  |
| 1779 |  |
| 1781? |  |
| 1787 | Captain Robert Gray carries the flag around the world on his sailing vessel (around the tip of South America, to China, and beyond). He discovered a great river and named it after his boatThe Columbia. His discovery was the basis of America's claim to the Oregon Territory. |
| 1795 |  |
| 1803 |  |
| 1814 | September 14 — Francis Scott Key writes "The Star-Spangled Banner." It officially becomes the national anthem in 1931. |
| 1814 |  |
| 1818 |  |
| 1819 |  |
| 1820 |  first flag on Pikes Peak |
| c. 1820-30 |  |
| 1822 |  |
| 1836 |  |
| 1837 |  |
| 1837 |  |
| 1845 |  |
| 1846 |  |
| 1847 |  |
| 1847 |  |
| 1848 |  |
| 1851 |  |
| 1858 |  |
| 1859 |  |
| 1861 |  Note: Even after the South seceded from the Union, President Lincoln would not allow any stars to be removed from the flag. • first Confederate Flag (Stars and Bars) adopted in Montgomery, Alabama |
| 1861 |  |
| 1863 |  |
| 1865 |  |
| 1867 |  |
| 1869 |  |
| 1876 |  |
| 1877 |  |
| 1877 |  |
| 1889 | Flag with 39 stars that never was! Flag manufacturers believed that the two Dakotas would be admitted as one state and so manufactured this flag, some of which still exist. It was never an official flag. |
| 1890 |  |
| 1891 |  |
| 1892 | "Pledge of Allegiance" first published in a magazine called "The Youth's Companion," written by Francis Bellamy. |
| 1896 |  |
| 1897 | Adoption of State Flag Desecration Statutes — By the late 1800's an organized flag protection movement was born in reaction to perceived commercial and political misuse of the flag. After supporters failed to obtain federal legislation, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota became the first States to adopt flag desecration statutes. By 1932, all of the States had adopted flag desecration laws. In general, these State laws outlawed: (i) placing any kind of marking on the flag, whether for commercial, political, or other purposes; (ii) using the flag in any form of advertising; and (iii) publicly mutilating, trampling, defacing, defiling, defying or casting contempt, either by words or by act, upon the flag. Under the model flag desecration law, the term "flag" was defined to include any flag, standard, ensign, or color, or any representation of such made of any substance whatsoever and of any size that evidently purported to be said flag or a picture or representation thereof, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars and stripes in any number, or by which the person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag of the U.S. |
| 1907 | Halter v. Nebraska (205 U.S. 34) — The Supreme Court holds that although the flag was a federal creation, the States' had the authority to promulgate flag desecration laws under their general police power to safeguard public safety and welfare. Halter involved a conviction of two businessmen selling "Stars and Stripes" brand beer with representations of the U.S. flag affixed to the labels. The defendants did not raise any First Amendment claim. |
| 1908 |  |
| 1909 | Robert Peary places the flag his wife sewed atop the North Pole. He left fragments of it as he traveled north. Ref |
| 1912 | June 24, President Taft signs Executive Order which establishes proportions of the flag and specifies arrangement and orientation of the stars. |
| 1912 |  |
| 1931 | Stromberg v. California (283 U.S. 359) — The Supreme Court finds that a State statute prohibiting the display of a "red flag" as a sign of opposition to organized government unconstitutionally infringed on the defendant's First Amendment rights. Stromberg represents the Court's first declaration that "symbolic speech" is protected by the First Amendment. |
| 1942 | Federal Flag Code (36 U.S.C. 171 et seq.) — On June 22, 1942, President Roosevelt approves the Federal Flag Code, providing for uniform guidelines for the display and respect shown to the flag. The Flag Code does not prescribe any penalties for non-compliance nor does it include any enforcement provisions, rather it functions simply as a guide for voluntary civilian compliance. |
| 1943 | West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (319 U.S. 624) — The Supreme Court holds that public school children could not be compelled to salute the U.S. flag. In a now famous passage, Justice Jackson highlighted the importance of freedom of expression under the First Amendment:Freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order. If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion. |
| 1945 | The flag that flew over Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, is flown over the White House on August 14, when the Japanese accepted surrender terms. |
| 1949 | August 3 — Truman signs bill requesting the President call for Flag Day (June 14) observance each year by proclamation. |
| 1954 | By act of Congress, the words "Under God" are inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance |
| 1959 |  |
| 1960 |  |
| 1962 | In the case Engel v. Vitale, the court decides that government-directed prayer in public schools is unconstitutional, a violation of the Establishment Clause. This case is relevant to the flag in that it set a precedent for debate over use of the phrase "under God" which was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954. |
| 1963 | Flag placed on top of Mount Everest by Barry Bishop. |
| 1968 | Adoption of Federal Flag Desecration Law (18 U.S.C. 700 et seq.) — Congress approves the first federal flag desecration law in the wake of a highly publicized Central Park flag burning incident in protest of the Vietnam War. The federal law made it illegal to "knowingly" cast "contempt" upon "any flag of the United States by publicly mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning or trampling upon it." The law defined flag in an expansive manner similar to most States. |
| 1969 | July 20 — The American flag is placed on the moon by Neil Armstrong. |
| 1969 | Street v. New York (394 U.S. 576) — The Supreme Court holds that New York could not convict a person based on his verbal remarks disparaging the flag. Street was arrested after he learned of the shooting of civil rights leader James Meredith and reacted by burning his own flag and exclaiming to a small crowd that if the government could allow Meredith to be killed, "we don't need no damn flag." The Court avoided deciding whether flag burning was protected by the First Amendment, and instead overturned the conviction based on Street's oral remarks. In Street, the Court found there was not a sufficient governmental interest to warrant regulating verbal criticism of the flag. |
| 1972 | Smith v. Goguen (415 U.S. 94) — The Supreme Court holds that Massachusetts could not prosecute a person for wearing a small cloth replica of the flag on the seat of his pants based on a State law making it a crime to publicly treat the flag of the United States with "contempt." The Massachusetts statute was held to be unconstitutionally "void for vagueness." |
| 1974 | Spence v. Washington (418 U.S. 405) — The Supreme Court holds that the State of Washington could not convict a person for attaching removable tape in the form of a peace sign to a flag. The defendant had attached the tape to his flag and draped it outside of his window in protest of the U.S. invasion of Cambodia and the Kent State killings. The Court again found under the First Amendment there was not a sufficient governmental interest to justify regulating this form of symbolic speech. Although not a flag burning case, this represented the first time the Court had clearly stated that protest involving the physical use of the flag should be seen as a form of protected expression under the First Amendment. |
| 1970-1980 | Revision of State Flag Desecration Statutes — During this period legislatures in some 20 States narrow the scope of their flag desecration laws in an effort to conform to perceived Constitutional restrictions under the Street, Smith, and Spence cases and to more generally parallel the federal law (i.e., focusing more specifically on mutilation and other forms of physical desecration, rather than verbal abuse or commercial or political misuse). |
| 1989 | Texas v. Johnson (491 U.S. 397) — The Supreme Court upholds the Texas Court of Criminal appeals finding that Texas law — making it a crime to "desecrate" or otherwise "mistreat" the flag in a way the "actor knows will seriously offend one or more persons" — was unconstitutional as applied. This was the first time the Supreme Court had directly considered the applicability of the First Amendment to flag burning. Gregory Johnson, a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, was arrested during a demonstration outside of the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas after he set fire to a flag while protestors chanted "America, the red, white, and blue, we spit on you." In a 5-4 decision authored by Justice Brennan, the Court first found that burning the flag was a form of symbolic speech subject to protection under the First Amendment. The Court also determined that under United States v. O'Brien, 391 U.S. 367 (1968), since the State law was related to the suppression of freedom of expression, the conviction could only be upheld if Texas could demonstrate a "compelling" interest in its law. The Court next found that Texas' asserted interest in "protecting the peace" was not implicated under the facts of the case. Finally, while the Court acknowledged that Texas had a legitimate interest in preserving the flag as a "symbol of national unity," this interest was not sufficiently compelling to justify a "content based" legal restriction (i.e., the law was not based on protecting the physical integrity of the flag in all circumstances, but was designed to protect it from symbolic protest likely to cause offense to others). |
| 1989 | Revision of Federal Flag Desecration Statute — Pursuant to the Flag Protection Act of 1989, Congress amends the 1968 federal flag desecration statute in an effort to make it "content neutral" and conform to the Constitutional requirements of Johnson. As a result, the 1989 Act sought to prohibit flag desecration under all circumstances by deleting the statutory requirement that the conduct cast contempt upon the flag and narrowing the definition of the term "flag" so that its meaning was not based on the observation of third parties. |
| 1990 | United States v. Eichman (496 U.S. 310) — Passage of the Flag Protection Act results in a number of flag burning incidents protesting the new law. The Supreme Court overturned several flag burning convictions brought under the Flag Protection Act of 1989. The Court holds that notwithstanding Congress' effort to adopt a more content neutral law, the federal law continued to be principally aimed at limiting symbolic speech. |
| 1990 | Rejection of Constitutional Amendment — Following the Eichman decision, Congress considers and rejects a Constitutional Amendment specifying that "the Congress and the States have the power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States." The amendment failed to muster the necessary two-thirds Congressional majorities, as it was supported by only a 254 — 177 margin in the House (290 votes were necessary) and a 58 — 42 margin in the Senate (67 votes were necessary). |
| 1995 | December 12 — The Flag Desecration Constitutional Amendment is narrowly defeated in the Senate. The Amendment to the Constitution would make burning the flag a punishable crime. |
| 2001 |  |
| 2002 | June 26 — The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California declares that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional because "under God" (inserted into the Pledge in 1954) was a violation of the Establishment Clause, that expression not create the reasonable impression that the government is sponsoring, endorsing, or inhibiting religion generally, or favoring or disfavoring a particular religion. This ruling was reconfirmed in February 2003, and applies only to the 9th Circuit (the following districts: Alaska, Arizona, Central, Eastern, Northern, and Southern California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Eastern and Western Washington, Guam, and Northern Mariana Islands). (See 2010) |
| 2004 | June 14 — The Supreme Court declines to hear a case challenging "One nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. "While the court did not address the merits of the case, it is clear that the Pledge of Allegiance and the words 'under God' can continue to be recited by students across America," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice. |
| 2005 | January 25 — Constitutional amendment, sponsored by Rep. Duke Cunningham, introduced. It reads simply, "The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States." June 22 — The Constitutional amendment (see above) is approved by the House (vote of 286-130). It requires Senate approval. Then it must receive approval from 38 states within seven years. |
| 2006 | June 28 — The Senate is one vote short of passing the Constitutional amendment (see above). |
| 2006 | July 19 — H.R.42 is passed, preventing condominiums or residential real estate management associations from forbidding the flying of the US flag. Read full law |
| 2010 | The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California declares that the phrase "under God" in the Pledge is constitutional. The majority decision states, “The Pledge of Allegiance serves to unite our vast nation through the proud recitation of some of the ideals upon which our Republic was founded.” It states later, "Coercion to engage in a patriotic activity, like the Pledge of Allegiance, does not run afoul of the Establishment Clause." (See 2002) Read decision [pdf] |
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