Conspicuous among the stars, its horns wide spread over the heavens, is
the Lyre, with which Orpheus was wont to captivate everything to which
he addressed his song, and even made a journey through Hades itself,
and put to sleep the infernal laws. Hence, its celestial honor; and, by
the same power with which it then drew rocks and trees along, it now
leads the stars, and _whirls along the immense orb of the revolving
world_.
This last line shows that the constellation Lyra, as an emblem of union
for the United States, would have been an amplification of the
attribute of "fascination" ascribed to the Rattlesnake, as an emblem of
union for the United States, in the account we have already given of
the Rattlesnake as such, in describing the standard of the
commander-in-chief of the American navy; for the constellation Lyra
would not only imply "that those who consider the liberty and blessings
which America affords, and once come over to her, never afterwards
leave her, but spend their lives with her," but that by their union and
harmony the United States would "whirl along the immense orb of the
revolving world," to follow their example in their forms of government.
Having thus shown how appropriate the constellation Lyra would have
been as an emblem of the union of the United States, we proceed to
ascertain if the first flag displayed under the resolution of June 14,
1777, bore that constellation. In Trumbull's picture of the surrender
of Burgoyne, and Peale's picture of Washington, the thirteen stars are
represented as arranged in a circle; it now remains to show the
existence of some record exhibiting a connection between the
constellation Lyra and the circle of thirteen stars.
We find this record on a form for a passport of the United States,
prepared under Mr. John Quincy Adams, when Secretary of State, in 1820,
which form is now in use. In adopting the form in question, the arms of
the United States, previously used on U.S. passports, were replaced by
a circle of thirteen stars surrounding an eagle, holding in his beak
the constellation Lyra, and the motto, _Nunc sidera ducit_.
Mr. W. J. Stone, of Washington City, gives the following account of
the preparation of the device above described, and presented in
the vignette to the title-page. In it, the constellation Lyra is
represented as radiating into a circle of thirteen stars.
MOUNT PLEASANT, WASHINGTON CITY, May 8, 1852.
MY DEAR SIR: I find, on examination, that on the 25th of August,
1820, I engraved for the Department of State, by order of J. Q.
Adams, Secretary of State, a plate for a passport, at the head of
which was a spread eagle, drawn to encompass the constellation
Lyra.
The drawing was made by me, according to particular verbal
directions given by Mr. Adams. I have a distinct recollection of
having submitted the drawing to Mr. Adams, for approval, previous
to engraving.
Very respectfully, your obedt. servt.
(Signed,) W. J. STONE.
Had not this device been substituted, on the form for a United States
passport, for the arms of the United States, by Mr. John Quincy Adams,
we should not consider the constellation Lyra, radiating into a circle
of thirteen stars, as having any special meaning; but as, at the time
the circle of thirteen stars was introduced into the flag of the United
States as an emblem of union, his father, Mr. John Adams, was chairman
of the Board of War, we think it has.
On page 6, vol. iii. of the _Life and Writings of John Adams_, we
find the following entry in his journal:--
"The duties of this Board kept me in continual employment, not to
say drudgery, from the 12th of June 1776, till the 11th of November
1777." Again: "Other gentlemen attended as they pleased, but, as I
was chairman, or as they were pleased to call it, president, I must
never be absent."
A change being contemplated in the emblem of union in the flag, the
Board of War would, doubtless, have had charge of the preparation of
the substitute; and from the above, we perceive the chairman must have
been particularly connected with its preparation.
We have thus presented the data upon which is based the conclusion that
the constellation Lyra was originally proposed for the union of our
Flag, in 1777, at the time the circle of thirteen stars was adopted.
The reasons for that conclusion are the following:--
[Illustration: Pl. III.]
It was a Union flag that was to be altered. The United States having
become independent of Great Britain, the British emblem of union was no
longer appropriate; some other emblem of union was to be substituted.
The constellation Lyra was a time-honored emblem of union. The language
of the resolution of June 14, 1777, evidently has reference to such an
emblem, representing a constellation. The Lyra was not adopted. A
circle of thirteen stars was. At this time, Mr. John Adams was chairman
of the Board of War.
Mr. John Adams's son became Secretary of State in 1820. Striking out
the arms of the United States, he presented on the passport a device,
representing the constellation Lyra radiating into a circle of
stars--the stars thirteen in number. At this time there were twenty-one
States in the Union--hence this circle of thirteen stars referred to an
earlier day. The first instance of a circle of thirteen stars being
used as a national device, was in the U. S. Flag, and its being
presented on the passport must have referred to that use of it, as
constituting it a well-known emblem of the United States, indicative of
their union, while the constellation Lyra, occupying the centre of this
circle, indicates the origin of the circle of stars, as an emblem of
union "representing a new constellation," in that time-honored emblem
of union. The other circumstances we have adduced point to Mr. John
Adams as the source from which his son derived his information. We
suppose the circle of stars was preferred to the Lyra because it
indicated the perpetuity of the Union, which was distinctly intimated
by the Rattlesnake Standard, laid aside when the flag of the United
States, commonly called the Stars and Stripes, was adopted. It may not
be improper to observe that these deductions are in keeping with the
general rules, presented in our Introduction, as deduced from the
practices of nations relative to national emblems.
Compare Fig. 6, Plate II., the Flag of the United States, as first
presented under the resolution of June 14, 1777, with Fig. 1, Plate
III., the flag as we suppose it to have been proposed when Mr. John
Adams was chairman of the Board of War, and both of the above with the
vignette to the title-page, the device introduced into the passport in
_lieu_ of the arms of the United States, by Mr. John Q. Adams, when
Secretary of State.
In making these comparisons, the eagle, only adopted for the arms of
the United States in 1782, must be kept out of view, or rather
considered as having no part in the question about the stars.
In the preceding pages, we have established the origin of the part of
the flag called "the union," also that of the circle of stars as an
emblem for that union, together with that of the stripes, as clearly as
analogy will enable us so to do. As corroborating the views we have
advanced, we now present to the reader the reports on the adoption of
the arms of the United States, copied by permission from unpublished
records of the State Department, from which it appears that certain of
those who prepared the devices for the Flag of the United States, were
also engaged in the preparation of the device for a Great Seal.
"JOURNALS OF CONGRESS."
"1776--_page_ 248.
"_July 4._ Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams, and Mr. Jefferson, be a
committee to prepare a device for a Great Seal for the United
States of America.
"1776--_page_ 321.
"_Aug. 10._ The Committee appointed to prepare the Device for a
Great Seal for the United States brought in the same, with an
explanation thereof; ordered to lie on the table.
"No. 1. _Copy of a Report made Aug. 10, 1776._
"The Great Seal should on one side have the arms of the United
States of America, which arms should be as follows:--
"The shield has six quarters, parts one, _coupe_ two. The 1st or, a
rose, enamelled gules and argent for England; the 2d argent, a
thistle proper, for Scotland; the 3d verd, a harp or, for Ireland;
the 4th azure a _flower-de-luce_ or, for France; the 5th or, the
imperial eagle, sable, for Germany; and the 6th or, the Belgic
lion, gules for Holland, pointing out the countries from which the
States have been peopled. The shield within a border gules entwined
of thirteen scutcheons argent, linked together by a chain or, each
charged with initial letters sable as follows: 1st, N.H.; 2d, M.B.;
3d, R.I.; 4th, C.; 5th, N.Y.; 6th, N.J.; 7th, P.; 8th, D.E.; 9th,
M.; 10th, V.; 11th, N.C.; 12th, S.C.; 13th, G., for each of the
thirteen independent States of America.
"Supporters dexter the Goddess Liberty, in a corselet of armor,
alluding to the present times; holding in her right hand the spear
and cap, and with her left supporting the shield of the States,
sinister, the Goddess Justice, bearing a sword in her right hand,
and in her left a balance.
"Crest. The eye of Providence in a radiant triangle, whose glory
extends over the shield and beyond the figures. Motto: _E. Pluribus
Unum_.
"Legend round the whole achievement. Seal of the United States of
America, MDCCLXXVI.
"On the other side of the said Great Seal should be the following
device:--
"Pharaoh sitting in an open chariot, a crown on his head and a
sword in his hand, passing through the divided waters of the Red
Sea in pursuit of the Israelites. Rays, from a pillar of fire in
the cloud, expressive of the Divine presence and command, beaming
on Moses, who stands on the shore, and, extending his hand over the
sea, causes it to overthrow Pharaoh. Motto: _Rebellion to tyrants
is obedience to God_."
In regard to this Report, we observe Mr. John Adams was one of those
engaged in preparing it. The emblems to represent countries were the
rose for England, the thistle for Scotland, the harp for Ireland, &c.
May not this train of ideas have suggested to his mind the lyre and its
corresponding constellation to mark the Union of the United States of
America in the flag of those States?
We observe the reference to the Sacred Volume in the device for the
reverse of the proposed Seal. May not the idea of stars, as the
representatives of dependent States, have been borrowed from the same
source, and applied in the case of the flag as States dependent upon
union, and thus constituting a constellation?
"_March 25, 1779_--_page_ 101.
"_Ordered_, that the Report of the Committee on the Device of
a Great Seal for the United States, in Congress assembled, be
referred to a committee of three--Lovell, Scott, Houston."