Massachusetts Flag And Its History

By Ann Gregor

On March 6, 1915, Massachusetts adopted a State flag that was very similar to the flag that flies over the Commonwealth today. The 1915 flag depicted the Commonwealth coat of arms on one side on a white field. On the other side was a blue shield with a pine tree on it, a symbol of the value placed on wood by the settlers of Massachusetts.

Today, the design depicts the Massachusetts coat of arms on a white field on both sides of the flag, a design approved on June 2, 1971, to take effect on November 1, 1971.

He is wearing leggings, a shirt, and moccasins or leather shoes. There is a white or silver star with 5 points, placed above the right shoulder of the native man. Surrounding the shield is the state motto written on a blue streamer. It reads "Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem”, which means“By the Sword We Seek Peace, but Peace Only Under Liberty.” Just above the shield, there is an image of the right arm wielding a sword.

The arm and sword in the crest, together with the Latin motto on the surrounding ribbonâ€"“Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem” (“By the sword, we seek peace, but peace only under liberty”)â€"refer to lines written in the 17th century by the English politician Algernon Sidney. The coat of arms on a white field was used as regimental colors by many Massachusetts troops prior to 1908.

The arm with the sword effectively portrays the first half of the state motto. The Massachusetts Flag is a stark representation of the state motto as well as the native Massachusets of the state.

There is a barrage of cheap and inferior Massachusetts flags being imported and sold, that do not comply with the flag statute. This is bad for a number of reasons. Imported flags are cheaply made and more importantly, the designs, materials, colors, and methods of printing do not compare well with the better quality, longer-lasting, and correctly designed flags made by American manufacturers. The Flag Company Inc specialized in flag designs offered a special edition of decals and flags to memorize the history of Massachusetts flag for the future.

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New Mexico State Flag

By Mariana White

Since 1912, when New Mexico entered the union, two official state flags have flown over this southwestern state. The first flag of the state was designed by New Mexico historian Ralph Emerson Twitchell and featured a design quite different from the current flag. Mr. Twitchell's flag was blue with a small representation of the flag of the United States in the upper left-hand corner and the New Mexico State Seal in the lower right-hand corner. Placed in the upper right-hand corner of the field is the number forty-seven, representative of New Mexico's admission to the Union as the 47th state. "NEW MEXICO" was embroidered diagonally across the field from the lower left-hand corner to the upper right-hand corner.

Dr. Mera was an archaeologist and was familiar with the ancient symbols of Native peoples. He got his inspiration from a Zia symbol on an old clay pot that was created by a woman from Zia Pueblo, New Mexico. Dr. Mera modified the design and used royal colors, yellow and red, from Spain.

The simple and meaningful design features an interpretation of an ancient symbol of the sun as found on a late 19th-century water jar from Zia Pueblo. This red symbol is called a "Zia" and is centered on a field of yellow.

Four is the sacred number of the Zia and can be found repeated in the four points radiating from the circle. The number four is embodied in the four points of the of the compass, North, East, South, and West; in the four seasons of the year Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter; in the 24 hours of each day by sunrise, noon, evening and night; by four seasons of life, childhood, youth, adulthood and old age.

Zia Indians put a high regard on the sun. For them, the sun is sacred. It is found on ancient pottery and those ancient ceremonial vases were used introduce a newborn child to the sun.

There is a barrage of cheap and inferior New Mexico flags being imported and sold, that do not comply with the flag statute. This is bad for a number of reasons. Imported flags are cheaply made and more importantly, the designs, materials, colors, and methods of printing do not compare well with the better quality, longer-lasting, and correctly designed flags made by American manufacturers. The Flag Company Inc specialized in flag designs offered a special edition of decals and flags to memorize the history of New Mexico flag for the future.

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South Carolina State Flag

By Ned Sons

Settled by the English in 1670, South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the U.S. constitution in 1788. Its early economy was largely agricultural, benefitting from the area’s fertile soil, and plantation farmers relied on the slave trade for cheap labor to maximize their profits.

Ten years later in 1775, Colonel William Moultrie was asked by the South Carolina Revolutionary Council of Safety to design a banner for the use of South Carolina State Troops. Colonel Moultrie chose a simple and direct design that displayed the crescent (new moon)on a blue field. The new flag was the same blue color of the soldier's uniforms and the silver crescent echoed the symbol that the soldiers wore on the front of their caps.

The state was the 8th to gain admission to the Union in 1788 and also one of the 13 original colonies. To add more meaning to the South Carolina Flag, certain modifications were made to the original design, which has come down to the people through the ages. The South Carolina Flag is made of a blue field, in the center of which, there are a palmetto tree and a white crescent moon in the upper left corner of the flag.

A Palmetto tree was added and centered on the blue field. The Palmetto, the South Carolina State Tree, had been attributed as instrumental in Colonel Moultrie's defense of Sullivan's Island against an attack by British warships in June 1776. Cannonballs fired at the fort from the British ships could not destroy the walls of the fort which were built of Palmetto logs. Instead, the cannonballs simply sank into the soft, tough Palmetto wood.

On January 26, 1861, following secession from the Union, the South Carolina legislature adopted a blue flag with a white crescent at the hoist and a white oval and golden palmetto in the center. Two days later the palmetto was changed to white and the oval was omitted. That flag has continued to represent the state ever since.

There is a barrage of cheap and inferior South Carolina flags being imported and sold, that do not comply with the flag statute. This is bad for a number of reasons. Imported flags are cheaply made and more importantly, the designs, materials, colors, and methods of printing do not compare well with the better quality, longer-lasting, and correctly designed flags made by American manufacturers. The Flag Company Inc specialized in flag designs offered a special edition of decals and flags to memorize the history of South Carolina flag for the future.

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The Flag Company Inc And Hawaii Flag

By Garry James

Hawaii is a group of volcanic islands in the central Pacific Ocean. The islands lie 2,397 miles from San Francisco, California, to the east and 5,293 miles from Manila, in the Philippines, to the west. The capital is Honolulu, located on the island of Oahu. The islands were annexed by the United States in 1900.

That was before 1810 and before a young, ambitious ali'i, Kamehameha, managed to acquire a small schooner with a cannon. With the help of his cannon and various small arms brought to the islands by European travelers, he was able to take control of the island chain from Hawaii to Kauai. He instituted systems of governance, commerce, and taxation, establishing his court on the island of Hawaii and appointing governors to control all of the other islands. Kamehameha created a single sovereign nation that gained recognition as such by the major powers of the world.

Some say today’s Hawaiian flag was created after a controversy surrounding the waving of both the Union Flag and American Flag. Each side opposed the flying of the other’s flag, so a compromise was reached. The Hawaiian flag is notoriously seen as a melding of the U.S. and British flags. When the new Kingdom of Hawaii flag was introduced, it was not long before the UK, France, the U.S. and Japan granted their official recognition of the icon.

In 1816, Kamehameha the Great commissioned the design to an officer of the Royal Navy. The UK influence on the design is obvious â€" in the left upper corner is the duplicated Union Flag, a symbol of Hawaii’s alliance with the British. A second fold meaning to the inclusion of the Union Flag is the symbolic representation of the alia, a chiefly symbol created by crossing two spears rooted with an upright spear.

The eight alternating white, red and blue stripes represent the eight islands of Hawaii. The British Union Jack represents Hawaii's historical relationship with Great Britain as its protectorate. It also represents a stylized puela (a triangular standard laying across two crossed spears called an alia) which is the symbol of the Hawaiian ali'i.

There is a barrage of cheap and inferior Hawaiian flags being imported and sold, that do not comply with the flag statute. This is bad for a number of reasons. Imported flags are cheaply made and more importantly, the designs, materials, colors, and methods of printing do not compare well with the better quality, longer-lasting, and correctly designed flags made by American manufacturers. The Flag Company Inc specialized in flag designs offered a special edition of decals and flags to memorize the history of Hawaiian flag for the future.

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Buy this item on flag.com and after that have a piece of Hawaii flag history right at home.

History Of Rhode Island Flag

By Swan Stevens

From its beginnings, Rhode Island has been distinguished by its support for freedom of conscience and action: Clergyman Roger Williams founded the present state capital, Providence, after being exiled by the Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans in 1636. Williams was followed by other religious exiles who founded Pocasset, now Portsmouth, in 1638 and Newport in 1639.

Almost 90 years after Rhode Island became the last of the original thirteen colonies to form a union, the General Assembly of the state adopted an official design for a state flag. The colors and design of the flag date back to colonial times and the original establishment of Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations under King Charles II of England.

The Rhode Island legislature adopted an anchor for its colonial seal in 1647, and in 1664 it added the motto “Hope.” Those symbols were used on military flags by the time of the American Revolutionary War (1775â€"83), and Rhode Island ships may have used a simplified anchor flag by the early 19th century.

The colors, white and blue, were flown during the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Mexican War. The thirteen stars representing the original thirteen colonies were also displayed on flags flown by the Continental Regiments during the Revolution.

On February 1, 1882, that flag was replaced by a simpler designâ€"a blue field with a yellow anchor surrounded by a ring of 13 yellow stars, corresponding to the rank of the state among those ratifying the U.S. Constitution. On May 19, 1897, the current flag was substituted. Its juxtaposition of colors is contrary to heraldic custom because yellow on white is very difficult to distinguish, particularly when the flag is flying or seen under unfavorable lighting conditions.

There is a barrage of cheap and inferior Rhode Island flags being imported and sold, that do not comply with the flag statute. This is bad for a number of reasons. Imported flags are cheaply made and more importantly, the designs, materials, colors, and methods of printing do not compare well with the better quality, longer-lasting, and correctly designed flags made by American manufacturers. The Flag Company Inc specialized in flag designs offered a special edition of decals and flags to memorize the history of Rhode Island flag for the future.

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