Skip to main content

American Flag

After years of ups and downs, Old Glory has just made its greatest comeback.

Half a year ago, Amherst, Massachusetts, held a meeting to discuss hanging American flags along the town’s main routes.
Unlike many other flags, which evolved long after the character of their nations was established, the American flag was born with the Revolution, and few if any national emblems have inspired the veneration we accord it.
It was easy enough for an excited and passionate South to pass secession resolutions in 1861—yet harder than it thought to get away from the Old Flag.

Invented as part of a magazine promotional scheme in 1892, the Pledge of Allegiance has had a controversial career right from the start

It has been said that true patriotism never flags; Dr.

When American colonists sorely needed friends, a Dutch island governor risked political ruin by saluting the rebels’ flag

Summer was on the wane in wartime Philadelphia, 1776, and the city which had startled the world with the Declaration of Independence was alive with purposeful activity.

We hope you enjoy our work.

Please support this 72-year tradition of trusted historical writing and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to American Heritage.

Donate