[FLAGS OF THE REVOLUTION.]
BY WILLIAM HALE.
It is a fact not generally known that the stars and stripes is the oldest national emblem now in existence, and that the national flags of all other countries bear more recent dates of official adoption.
There has been a great deal of discussion concerning the origin of our flag. Although the thirteen stripes were in use before and during the early part of the Revolution, the first and only legislative action for the establishment of a national flag was in the shape of the following resolution, which was passed on Saturday, June 14, 1777:
"Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."
No record of the discussions that preceded the adoption of this flag has been kept, and although there have been many theories as to the origin of the device, none of them has been entirely satisfactory.