There is the national flag! He must be cold, indeed, who can look upon
its folds rippling in the breeze without pride of country. If he be in a
foreign land the flag is companionship and country itself, with all its
endearments. It has been called “a floating piece of poetry,” and yet I
know not if it have greater beauty than other ensigns. Its highest beauty
is in what it symbolizes. It is because it represents all, that all gaze
at it with delight and reverence. It is a piece of bunting lifted in the
air, but it speaks sublimely, and every part has a voice. Its stripes of
alternate red and white proclaim the original union of thirteen states
to maintain the Declaration of Independence. Its stars of white in a
field of blue proclaim that union of States constituting our national
constellation, which receives a new star with every state. The two
together signify union, past and present. The very colors have a language
which was officially recognized by our fathers. White is for purity, red
for valor, blue for justice; and all together, bunting, stars, stripes,
and colors, blazing in the sky, make the flag of our country—to be
cherished by all our hearts, to be upheld by all our hands.
—_Charles Sumner._
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