Editing Flag of the United States (section)

== Symbolism ==
The flag of the United States is the nation's most widely recognized symbol.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1016&context=kaleidoscope#:~:text=Henry%20Ward%20Beecher-,%E2%80%9CThe%20most%20universally%20recognizable%20symbol%20of%20American%20government%E2%80%9D%20is%20the,adopted%20as%20America's%20new%20flag |title=The American flag and the body: How the flag and the body create an American meaning |last=Marmo |first=Jennifer |journal=Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research |volume=9 |year=2010}}</ref> Within the United States, flags are frequently displayed not only on public buildings but on private residences. The flag is a common motif on decals for car windows, and on clothing ornamentation such as badges and lapel pins. Owing to the United States's emergence as a [[superpower]] in the 20th century, the flag is among the most widely recognized symbols in the world, and is used to represent the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://libertyflags.com/blogs/default-blog/what-the-american-flag-symbolizes-around-the-world |date=December 28, 2018 |access-date=January 30, 2019|title=What the American Flag Symbolizes Around The World}}</ref>

The flag has become a powerful symbol of [[Americanism (ideology)|Americanism]], and is flown on many occasions, with giant outdoor flags used by retail outlets to draw customers. Reverence for the flag has at times reached [[American civil religion|religion-like fervor]]: in 1919 [[William Norman Guthrie]]'s book ''The Religion of Old Glory'' discussed "the cult of the flag"<ref>
{{cite book
| last1 = Guthrie
| first1 = William Norman
| author-link1 = William Norman Guthrie
| title = The Religion of Old Glory
|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.73469
| edition = reprint
| location = New York
| publisher = George H. Doran Company
| date = 1919
| page = [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.73469/page/n274 370]
| isbn = 978-1-178-23635-4
| access-date = April 27, 2018
}}
</ref>
and formally proposed {{linktext | vexillolatry}}.<ref>
{{cite book
| title = The Flag Bulletin
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EDIrAQAAIAAJ
| volume = 23
| location = Winchester, Massachusetts
| publisher = Flag Research Center
| publication-date = 1984
| page = 107
| access-date = April 27, 2018
| quote = [...] a formal book-length proposal for vexillolatry was made by William Norman Guthrie in his ''The Religion of Old Glory'' (New York: Doran, l9l9).
| year = 1984
}}
</ref>

Despite a number of attempts to ban the practice, [[flag desecration|desecration of the flag]] remains protected as [[freedom of speech|free speech]] under the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution]]. Scholars have noted the irony that "<nowiki>[t]</nowiki>he flag is so revered because it represents the land of the free, and that freedom includes the ability to use or abuse that flag in protest".<ref>[https://time.com/3907444/flag-supreme-court-history/]  This Is Why It's Legal to Burn the American Flag</ref> Comparing practice worldwide, Testi noted in 2010 that the United States was not unique in adoring its banner, for the flags of Scandinavian countries are also "beloved, domesticated, commercialized and sacralized objects".<ref>
Arnaldo Testi, ''Capture the Flag: The Stars and Stripes in American History'' (New York University Press, 2010), p. 2, {{ISBN|978-0-8147-8322-1}}.
</ref>

===Color symbolism===
When the flag was officially adopted in 1777, the colors of red, white and blue were not given an official meaning. However, when [[Charles Thomson]], Secretary of the Continental Congress, presented a proposed [[Seal of the United States|U.S. seal]] in 1782, he explained its center section in this way: {{blockquote|The colours of the pales are those used in the flag of the United States of America; White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valor, and Blue, the colour of the Chief signifies vigilance, perseverance & justice.<ref name=Greenstein>{{Cite magazine|url=https://swampland.time.com/2013/07/04/why-the-u-s-flag-is-red-white-and-blue/|title=Why the U.S. Flag is Red, White and Blue|first=Nicole|last=Greenstein|magazine=Time|date=July 4, 2013}}</ref>}}
These meanings have broadly been accepted as official, with some variation,<ref name=Greenstein /> but there are other extant interpretations as well:

* [[Henry Ward Beecher]] said of the [[Fort Sumter Flag]] upon its 1865 return to the fort, {{blockquote|The stars that redeem the night from darkness, and the beams of red light that beautify the morning, have been united upon its folds. As long as the sun endures, or the stars, may it wave over a nation neither enslaved nor enslaving.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Flag Replaced on Sumter |first=William Arnold |last=Spicer |year=1885 |publisher=Providence Press Company |oclc=747737536 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C8E_AAAAYAAJ&dq=sun&pg=PA50 }}</ref>}}
* In 1986, president [[Ronald Reagan]] gave his own interpretation, saying, {{blockquote|The colors of our flag signify the qualities of the human spirit we Americans cherish. Red for courage and readiness to sacrifice; white for pure intentions and high ideals; and blue for vigilance and justice.<ref name=Greenstein />}}
* An interpretation attributed to George Washington claims that {{blockquote|We take the stars from heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity, representing our liberty.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Origin of the American Flag|author=Telfair Marriott Minton|journal=Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research|volume=8|issue=32|publisher=Society for Army Historical Research|date=April 1929|pages=114–120 |jstor=44220286 }}</ref>}}