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first States to adopt flag desecration statutes. By 1932, all of the States had adopted flag desecration laws. In general, these State laws outlawed: (i) placing any kind of marking on the flag, whether for commercial, political, or other purposes; (ii) using the flag in any form of advertising; and (iii) publicly mutilating, trampling, defacing, defiling, defying or casting contempt, either by words or by act, upon the flag. Under the model flag desecration law, the term "flag" was defined to include any flag, standard, ensign, or color, or any representation of such made of any substance whatsoever and of any size that evidently purported to be said flag or a picture or representation thereof, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars and stripes in any number, or by which the person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag of the U.S.
765:, 391 U.S. 367 (1968), since the State law was related to the suppression of freedom of expression, the conviction could only be upheld if Texas could demonstrate a "compelling" interest in its law. The Court next found that Texas' asserted interest in "protecting the peace" was not implicated under the facts of the case. Finally, while the Court acknowledged that Texas had a legitimate interest in preserving the flag as a "symbol of national unity", this interest was not sufficiently compelling to justify a "content based" legal restriction (i.e., the law was not based on protecting the physical integrity of the flag in all circumstances, but was designed to protect it from symbolic protest likely to cause offense to others).
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743:(491 U.S. 397) – The Supreme Court upheld the Texas Court of Criminal appeals finding that Texas law – making it a crime to "desecrate" or otherwise "mistreat" the flag in a way the "actor knows will seriously offend one or more persons" – was unconstitutional as applied. This was the first time the Supreme Court had directly considered the applicability of the First Amendment to flag burning. Gregory Johnson, a member of the
778:(496 U.S. 310) – Passage of the Flag Protection Act of 1989 resulted in a number of flag burning incidents protesting the new law. The Supreme Court overturned several flag burning convictions brought under the Flag Protection Act. The Court held that notwithstanding Congress' effort to adopt a more content neutral law, the federal law continued to be principally aimed at limiting symbolic speech.
718:. The Court again found under the First Amendment there was not a sufficient governmental interest to justify regulating this form of symbolic speech. Although not a flag burning case, this represented the first time the Court had clearly stated that protest involving the physical use of the flag should be seen as a form of protected expression under the First Amendment.
703:(415 U.S. 94) – The Supreme Court held that Massachusetts could not prosecute a person for wearing a small cloth replica of the flag on the seat of his pants based on a state law making it a crime to publicly treat the flag of the United States with "contempt". The Massachusetts statute was held to be unconstitutionally "void for vagueness."
551:(283 U.S. 359) – The Supreme Court found that a State statute prohibiting the display of a "red flag" as a sign of opposition to organized government unconstitutionally infringed on the defendant's First Amendment rights. Stromberg represented the Court's first declaration that "symbolic speech" was protected by the First Amendment.
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1990 – Rejection of
Constitutional Amendment – Following the Eichman decision, Congress considered and rejected a Constitutional amendment specifying that "the Congress and the States have the power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States." The amendment failed to
514:
held that although the flag was a federal creation, the States had the authority to promulgate flag desecration laws under their general police power to safeguard public safety and welfare. Halter involved a conviction of two businessmen selling "Stars and
Stripes" brand beer with representations of
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1897 – Adoption of State Flag
Desecration Statutes – By the late 1800s an organized flag protection movement was born in reaction to perceived commercial and political misuse of the flag. After supporters failed to obtain federal legislation, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota became the
768:
1989 – Revision of
Federal Flag Desecration Statute – Pursuant to the Flag Protection Act of 1989, Congress amended the 1968 federal flag desecration statute in an effort to make it "content neutral" and conform to the Constitutional requirements of the Johnson case. As a result, the 1989 Act
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and reacted by burning his own flag and exclaiming to a small crowd that if the government could allow
Meredith to be killed, "we don't need no damn flag." The Court avoided deciding whether flag burning was protected by the First Amendment, and instead overturned the conviction based on Street's
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highlighted the importance of freedom of expression under the First
Amendment: "Freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order. If
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approved the
Federal Flag Code, providing for uniform guidelines for the display and respect shown to the flag. The Flag Code does not prescribe any penalties for non-compliance nor does it include any enforcement provisions, rather it functions simply as a guide for voluntary civilian
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1890 – Flag with 42 stars that never was. It was anticipated that Idaho would be admitted after July 4 and manufacturers tried to get a headstart by making 42-star flags. Idaho was admitted on July 3. As
Wyoming was admitted July 10, few of the official 43 star flags were
710:(418 U.S. 405) – The Supreme Court held that the State of Washington could not convict a person for attaching removable tape in the form of a peace sign to a flag. The defendant had attached the tape to his flag and draped it outside of his window in protest of the 1970
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sought to prohibit flag desecration under all circumstances by deleting the statutory requirement that the conduct cast contempt upon the flag and narrowing the definition of the term "flag" so that its meaning was not based on the observation of third parties.
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1818 – Flag with 20 stars and returned to the 13 stripes design of alternating red and white colors of 1777. It remains at 13 stripes hereafter to the present with only stars added for additional states admitted to the Union, on next following
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1970–1980 – Revision of State Flag
Desecration Statutes – During this period legislatures in some 20 states narrowed the scope of their flag desecration laws in an effort to conform to perceived Constitutional restrictions under the
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2007 – The longevity in years used of the present 50-star flag became tied with that of the 48-star flag, both having 47 years of continuous use. After this date, the 50-star flag became the longest-used version of the U.S.
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1889 – Flag with 39 stars that never was. Flag manufacturers mistakenly believed that the two
Dakotas would be admitted instead as one state and so manufactured this flag, some of which still exist. It was never an official
687:(394 U.S. 576) – The Supreme Court held that New York State could not convict a person based on his verbal remarks disparaging the flag. Street was arrested after he learned of the shooting of civil rights leader
242:". It becomes the official national anthem of the United States in 1931. The unique 15-star, 15-stripe design with a red stripe under the blue canton with stars (used from 1795 to 1818) of the huge flag made by
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muster the necessary two-thirds Congressional majorities, as it was supported by only a 254–177 margin in the House (290 votes were necessary) and a 58–42 margin in the Senate (67 votes were necessary).
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cases and to more generally parallel the Federal Law (i.e., focusing more specifically on mutilation and other forms of physical desecration, rather than verbal abuse or commercial or political misuse).
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there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion."
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That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."
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1968 – Adoption of Federal Flag Desecration Law (18 U.S.C. 700 et seq.) – Congress approved the first federal flag desecration law in the wake of a highly publicized
544:) completing "Lower 48" continental U.S. Becomes longest serving flag of 47 years 1912–1959. (An unofficial 47-star flag was made for commemorative purposes in New Mexico.)
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759:, the Court first found that burning the flag was a form of symbolic speech subject to protection under the First Amendment. The Court also determined that under
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286:(1817) added from previous years). (An unofficial 16-star, 16-stripe flag had been made in Tennessee, and an unofficial 17-star, 13-stripe flag in Ohio.)
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566:(319 U.S. 624) – The Supreme Court held that public school children could not be compelled to salute the U.S. flag. In a now famous passage, Justice
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after he set fire to a flag while protesters chanted "America, the red, white, and blue, we spit on you." In a 5–4 decision authored by Justice
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by publicly mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning or trampling upon it." The law defined flag in an expansive manner similar to most States.
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during the 1870s holds that the seamstress sewed the first American flag. The claim is widely discredited by researchers and historians.
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the U.S. flag affixed to the labels. The defendants did not raise any constitutional First Amendment claim.
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in a British attack becomes known as the "Star Spangled Banner Flag".
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passes a new flag desecration constitutional amendment.
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597:(June 14th) observance each year by proclamation.
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183:flag, in a square in the upper left-hand corner.
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432:1869 – First flag on a U.S. postage stamp
859:Congress, Joint Committee on Printing (1989).
604:, the words "Under God" are inserted into the
624:1963 – American Flag placed on top of
564:West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette
57:"Timeline of the flag of the United States"
787:Flag Desecration Constitutional Amendment
411:, western counties withdrew from seceded
108:Learn how and when to remove this message
529:places the flag his wife sewed atop the
231:to the original Thirteen Colonies stars)
484:" first published in a magazine called
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865:. Darby, PA: Diane Pub Co. p. 3.
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574:1945 – The flag that flew over
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129:flag of the United States
775:United States v. Eichman
762:United States v. O'Brien
240:The Star-Spangled Banner
849:, June 12, 2011, p. B2.
678:at "Tranquillity Base".
600:1954 – By act of
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486:"The Youth's Companion"
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510:(205 U.S. 34) – The
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716:Kent State killings
668:Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin
403:Montgomery, Alabama
256:Battle of Baltimore
210:Captain Robert Gray
137:Continental Colours
684:Street v. New York
651:in protest of the
512:U.S. Supreme Court
508:Halter v. Nebraska
492:. Revised in 1954.
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591:Harry Truman
576:Pearl Harbor
527:Robert Peary
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456:South Dakota
452:North Dakota
248:Fort McHenry
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192:Philadelphia
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40:Please help
35:verification
32:
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791:U.S. Senate
653:Vietnam War
559:compliance.
284:Mississippi
266:, July 4. (
159:, north of
901:Categories
824:References
538:New Mexico
531:North Pole
464:Washington
366:California
306:Pikes Peak
188:Betsy Ross
181:Union Jack
68:newspapers
672:Apollo 11
630:Himalayas
373:Minnesota
359:Wisconsin
276:Louisiana
268:Tennessee
252:Baltimore
203:Resolved,
161:Cambridge
147:over the
862:Our Flag
812:See also
714:and the
602:Congress
595:Flag Day
584:Japanese
520:Oklahoma
437:Colorado
427:Nebraska
413:Virginia
331:Michigan
324:Arkansas
317:Missouri
310:Colorado
291:Illinois
282:(1816),
278:(1812),
274:(1803),
270:(1796),
250:outside
229:Kentucky
145:Virginia
628:in the
542:Arizona
475:Wyoming
460:Montana
338:Florida
298:Alabama
280:Indiana
225:Vermont
82:scholar
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753:Dallas
732:Spence
730:, and
724:Street
694:Street
619:Hawaii
612:Alaska
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420:Nevada
387:Kansas
380:Oregon
165:Boston
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728:Smith
666:with
636:, by
634:Nepal
468:Idaho
443:flag.
345:Texas
302:Maine
218:China
216:, to
89:JSTOR
75:books
867:ISBN
676:Moon
497:Utah
352:Iowa
272:Ohio
227:and
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61:news
843:",
751:in
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