Happy Birthday America!

"The happy union of these states is a wonder; their constitution a miracle; their example the hope of liberty throughout the world."

-James Madison

 "Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives."

-John Adams

"First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

-Henry Lee

During the war of 1812 Mary Young Pickersgill was asked by Major George Armistead, the commander of Fort McHenry on the coast of Maryland, to sew a flag that the enemies could see from a distance.  It was a huge flag and was 30 by 42 feet.  It was so big that she and her daughter had to go put it together at a local brewery. 

In 1814, lawyer Francis Scott Key was on a ship offshore from Fort McHenry.  The British began firing on Fort McHenry.  It was a battle that lasted through the night.  In the morning he witnessed the raising of Mary Pickersgill's flag.  Seeing that the fort had not fallen into British hands and seeing the flag, he was inspired to write the lyrics to "The Star Spangled Banner."

Oh say! Can you see, by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.

O say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? 

"I pledge allegiance to the flag

of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands,

on nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all."

-written by Francis Bellamy