sociohistorical origins and have been modified and transformed
as the American cultural system has developed and changed. To
understand better the uses of the flag in contemporary society, we
must understand the changing uses of the flag in the past. This
requires a bit of effort, for we must not jump to the conclusion
that our interpretations and applications of the symbol transcend
all time and space. The importance of the flag of the United States
and the different uses considered appropriate for it have shifted
over the years since the colonies first declared their indepen-
dence. Taking the time to examine those shifts carefully can help
us begin to appreciate the cultural history of the flag both in terms
used in those earlier cultural contexts and as a repository for the
heritage the banner can signify today.

This is a rich, untapped area of cultural analysis. To begin to
understand it, the following study explores changing uses of the
national banner of the United States in presentation, legend, and
ritual from 1777, when the Continental Congress passed the first
Flag Resolution creating a national banner, to 1924, when the
Second National Flag Conference finalized a formal code of flag
etiquette for citizens of the United States. Because this is an
exploration of cultural history, it examines not only the changes
that have occurred, but also who introduced these changes and why
these changes were enacted. Emphasis, then, is placed on analyz-
ing usage. How have presentations of the flag changed? Who
brought about these changes? What have been the roles of social
groups and institutions in promoting these changes?

Although any public library will contain at least a few books or
pamphlets devoted to the flag of the United States, few studies of
the flag have moved beyond documentations of design or histor-
ical alteration. Most books on the flag tend toward patriotic praise,
becoming flag-waving examples of the very cultural phenomenon
this study intends to examine.

Some flag historians have recognized the impact of culture on
the shifting significance and usage of the national banner, al-
though none have ventured a full-scale probe of the subject. For
example, when Milo Quaife published The Flag of the United States
in 1942, at a time when war quite naturally aroused a heightened
sense of nationalism among the public, he claimed that few knew
the true history of the American flag: "In its stead, a volume of
myth and tradition has developed, which by force of frequent
repetition has impressed itself upon the public mind as actual
history." ² To a certain extent he was taking up the charge of
William Elliot Griffis, who suggested in 1929 that many common

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