Fly your flag for South Carolina, May 23 – Statehood Day

U.S. and South Carolina flags flying together on one pole. Photo from Bluffton Breeze

Fly your flag for South Carolina’s statehood on May 23.

South Carolina is one of the original 13 colonies who banded together, first to fight for independence from Britain, and then to create the United States of America.  “Statehood Day” for the 13 original members is the anniversary of the date that colony ratified the Constitution.

South Carolina’s convention of citizens ratified the constitution on May 23, 1788 — the 8th state to do so.  A three-fourths, 75% majority put the Constitution into operation; 75% was 9 states.  While South Carolina’s ratification technically didn’t become viable until one more state joined in, we give South Carolina a pass, so they can celebrate.

The U.S. Flag Code urges residents of a state to fly U.S.  flags on the anniversary of that state’s statehood.  I gather South Carolina doesn’t do much to celebrate statehood.

The Great Seal of the State of South Carolina. Wikipedia image

More:

• South Carolina facts at Enchanted Learning
• Flag-Stomping South Carolina Teacher Gets $85K to Not Sue (insurancejournal.com)
• Outline of South Carolina (en.wikipedia.org)
• Fly your flag April 28: Maryland statehood day (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
• April 30 – Fly flags for Louisiana Statehood (timpanogos.wordpress.com)

Fly your flags today in Minnesota: Minnesota Statehood Day, May 11

Flag etiquette following the U.S. Flag Code urges Americans to fly U.S. flags on the day of statehood for the state in which you reside.

Minnesota joined the Union on May 11, 1858.

Caption from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: The Minnesota Capitol chandelier was illuminated today, May 10, 2013 in celebration of Statehood Day. It has 92 bulbs surrounded by 40,000 crystal beads strung together and was recently painstakingly cleaned and refurbished. The fixture is traditionally lit once per year on Statehood Day. Minnesota became a part of the United States as Minnesota Territory in 1849, and became the 32nd U.S. state on May 11, 1858.

At the Library of Congress’s outstanding American Memory site, a much more detailed history of Minnesota statehood is featured on “Today in History,” reproduced here in its entirety:

The Star of the North

Capitol Building, exterior, St. Paul, MN
St. Paul, Minnesota 1902
American Landscape and Architectural Design, 1850-1920

On May 11, 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd state admitted into the Union. Minnesota’s application for statehood was submitted to President James Buchanan in January, but became entangled with the controversial issue of Kansas statehood, delaying it for several months until it was finally approved by Congress.

Known as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” or “Star of the North,” Minnesota is the northern terminus of the Mississippi River’s traffic and the westernmost point of an inland waterway which extends through the Great Lakes and, with the St. Lawrence Seaway, to the Atlantic Ocean.

The Ojibwa (Chippewa) and Dakota (Sioux) were among the tribal peoples who first made this land their home. For them state borders were non-existent, and their territory extended far beyond what is today Minnesota. The French claimed this region from the mid-1600s to the mid-1700s, developing a strong fur trade but ceding lands east of the Mississippi to Britain. The U.S. acquired the area and its rich natural resources through the Treaty of Paris (1783), and the Louisiana Purchase (1803).

U.S. administration of the northwest lands formally began with the 1787 passage of the Northwest Ordinance. The ordinance, one of the most important pieces of legislation passed by the Continental Congress, set out the requirements for a territory to become a state. The American Memory collection Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789 features a discussion of the Incorporation of the Western Territories. For additional information on England’s yielding of land west of the Appalachian Mountains, see the Today in History feature on the Surrender of Fort Sackville. A representation of Fort Sackville is accessible on The George Rogers Clark National Historic Park site.

From the 1820s on, protected the growth of the area now called Minnesota. During the Civil War, the fort served as a training center for thousands of young Minnesota volunteers who joined the Union Army. Twenty-four thousand soldiers who trained at the fort fought in the Union Army, serving gallantly at Gettysburg or during the Indian Outbreak. Once a military outpost at the edge of a small settlement, Fort Snelling is now located at the center of Minnesota’s “Twin Cities”—Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Wheat Bundle Stacks, Fosston, Minnesota, circa 1900.
The Northern Great Plains, 1880-1920

Horse powered threshing rig, Blue Earth, Minnesota, 1898.
The Northern Great Plains, 1880-1920

Until the second half of the nineteenth century, immigration into Minnesota was slow. However, as the value of the state’s woodlands and fertile prairie was realized, settlers poured into the region with New England lumbermen leading the way. Between 1850 and 1857, the state population skyrocketed from 6,077 to over 150,000. As a large state with land for homesteading, Minnesota attracted immigrants from Norway, Sweden, Finland, and those seeking to own land in the United States. An 1878 brochure published by the Minnesota State Board of Immigration, describes the many reasons for moving to the state.

Northern Line Packet Co.,
Advertisement for a steamship company in The Minnesota Guide. A Handbook of Information for the Travelers, Pleasure Seekers and Immigrants…, 1869.
Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910

Still a leader in farming, lumbering, milling, and medical research, Minnesota is also an important center for the printing industry and a major producer of iron ore. Its largest city, Minneapolis, is home to the University of Minnesota, numerous museums, and theaters such as the Tyrone Guthrie Theater and the Walker Arts Center, and the world’s largest cash grain market.

St. Paul is the state capital.

• Search across American Memory on Minnesota.
• Numerous photographs can be found in the FSA/OWI Photographs, 1938-1944, American Environmental Photographs, 1891-1936, and Built in America, 1933-Present collections, and in the Prints and Photographs Division collections.
• Don’t miss Pioneering the Upper Midwest, ca. 1820-1910. This American Memory collection portrays the states of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century through first-person accounts, biographies, promotional literature, local histories, ethnographic and antiquarian texts, colonial archival documents, and other works drawn from the Library’s General Collections and Rare Books and Special Collections Division. Also featured is the special presentation The History of the Upper Midwest: An Overview.
• History of the American West contains images of Native Americans in Minnesota.
• Map Collections (1500-Present) includes early maps of a number of Minnesota cities, such as Brainerd, Minneapolis, Saint Cloud, Saint Paul, Rochester, and Winona. Follow the instructions presented with each map to zoom in on houses, paddle wheelers, horse drawn carts, bridges, and much more in fine and accurate detail.
• To see more images of the state, search across the American Memory photo collections on Minnesota, or the name of a specific location. Taking the Long View, 1851-1991 offers over sixty-five panoramic photographs of the state from Hibbing to Fergus Falls.

Bird’s Eye View of Duluth, Minnesota, copyright 1914.
Taking the Long View, 1851-1991

More:

• Report of American flag violations in Georgetown (kvue.com)
• ‘Disgraced’ American flag disgusts Hopatcong police chief (nj.com)

April 30 – Fly flags for Louisiana Statehood

U.S. and Louisiana flags both should fly in Louisiana today. Photo by Jack and Joann

Flags out in Louisiana today?  Under the U.S. Flag code, Louisianans (and anyone else so inclined) should fly their U.S. flags on April 30 in honor of Louisiana’s statehood, achieved on April 30, 1812.

On April 30, 1812, the United States admitted Louisiana as the 18th state into the Union. Louisiana was the first state to have a majority Catholic French- and Spanish-speaking population, reflecting its origins as a colony under France from 1699-1763 and Spain from 1763-1803. Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Louisiana’s road to statehood was not all smooth. Federal law required citizens of a newly admitted territory to apply to congress for statehood, and the admission of the Orleans Territory as the 18th state followed years of lobbying efforts by prominent citizens—both American and Creole (French-speaking Catholics). Men such as French-born congressman Julien Poydras and American attorney Edward Livingston sought the greater political rights that statehood bestowed and convinced Territorial Governor William C.C. Claiborne that the Orleans Territory qualified for statehood. Finally in 1811, Democratic President James Madison signed the bill allowing the people of Louisiana to form a state constitution. Following the state constitutional convention in New Orleans where 43 American and Creole leaders convened, on April 14, 1812, President Madison signed the bill approving statehood. The bill designated April 30, 1812, as the day of formal admission.

Seriously, where would the U.S. be without the stories of Huey Long, and without Tobasco Sauce?

More:

• Fly your flag April 28: Maryland statehood day (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
• National Archives document images, important documents relating to Louisiana statehood
• No, the crab is not the official citizen of the State of Louisiana, and Gil Brassard, Sr., says shame on you for saying so; he notes the Louisiana State Crustacean is the crawfish, however
• C. C. Lockwood’s photos of Louisana official symbols
• No, the U.S. stopped adding stripes to the flags with 15, in 1794; the most stripes the flag had was 15
• Kidd Jordan will be honored as a Jazz Hero, by the Jazz Journalists Association, on April 30, 2013 — the middle of the New Orleans JazzFest

Map of the states and territories of the United States as it was from April 1812 to May 1812. On April 30 1812, most of Orleans Territory was admitted as the state of Louisiana. On May 12 1812, the federal government assigned its annexed land of West Florida to Mississippi Territory. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From the U.S. National Archives: Joint Credentials for the State of Louisiana’s First Senators, September 3, 1812 On September 3, 1812 Louisiana’s legislature elected Jean Noel Destréhan and Allan Bowie Magruder to serve as the new state’s first U.S. Senators. Destréhan resigned before being seated and was replaced by Thomas Posey. RG 46, Records of the U.S. Senate

Fly your flag April 28: Maryland statehood day

U.S. and Maryland flags flown together. Photo from the Maryland Secretary of State’s office.

Maryland’s convention to ratify the Constitution voted approval on April 28, 1788, the sixth of the former British colonies to ratify.

April 28 is considered Maryland’s statehood date.  According to the suggestions for proper times to fly the U.S. flag, Marylanders should fly their flags on April 28.

It’s only my opinion, but I think there is no grander display of a state and U.S. flag than with Maryland’s.  Maryland’s flag is a unique design in the state flags, and it features colors not common to state flags.  Our displays of both flags at our Maryland home often drew comments from passers-by (we lived on the street leading to the town’s Metro stop, so there was a lot of foot traffic.

Maryland’s flag features the two family crests of George Calvert, the First Lord Baltimore.  In Maryland law it’s described:

The Maryland flag is divided into four quarters. The first and fourth quarters consist of six vertical bars alternately yellow (representing gold) and black with a diagonal band on which the colors are reversed. The yellow and black quarters represent the family arms of the first proprietor of Maryland, George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore. The second and third quarters consist of a quartered field of red and white (representing silver) bearing a Greek cross with arms terminating in trefoils. The colors in the second and third quarters alternate, with red on the white ground and white on the red. The red and white quarters display the arms of Lord Baltimore’s maternal family, the Crosslands.

The flag was officially adopted only in 1904.  Maryland also has a detailed, but not too lengthy set of instructions on proper display and other care of the state flag.

From the W&M Blogs: “American and Maryland flags flying high over downtown Baltimore. Just why does the American flag have 15 stars and stripes? Think about Baltimore’s Fort McHenry and Francis Scott Key.”

Baltimore Harbor is home to Fort McHenry, the fort whose siege inspired Georgetown lawyer Francis Scott Key to write a poem about the U.S. flag, which became our national anthem.  Partly due to this history, U.S. flags in Maryland often are the historic, 15-star/15-stripe flag that inspired Key.

More:

• Josh Davidson photography has a nice shot of the Maryland and U.S. flags together, but his copyright notice indicates he doesn’t want you to see it here; so you don’t
• Maryland has an e-mail list to sign up for notifications on special orders for flag flying from the Governor
• Maryland Day is celebrated on March 25 — marking the landing of the first European settlers to what is now Maryland; it seems to be a bigger deal than statehood, in Maryland
• TimeToast timeline of Maryland history since statehood
• Every Day is Special feature on Maryland from 2012
• New one on me:  The Baltimore Sun — a favorite paper of mine and one of America’s greatest newspapers, certainly in the top 10 — featured the cover of a February “Justice League of America” comic book, below.  What’s up with that?  I don’t know.

Maryland flag on the cover of a Justice League of America comic book.

Fly your flag on Valentine’s Day? Okay in Oregon and Arizona

Some wag e-mailed to ask about flying the flag for Valentine’s Day.

Oregon entered as the 33rd state in 1859 – this is the Oregon commemorative quarter-dollar coin.

Legally, nothing stops a resident from flying the U.S. flag following protocol on any day.  So the short answer is, yes, you may fly your U.S. flag on Valentine’s Day.

The Flag Code urges flying the flag on the day a state achieved statehood, too.

So for Oregon and Arizona, there is an expectation that residents will fly their flags.  Oregon came into the union on February 14, 1859; Arizona joined the Republic as a state in 1912.

President William Howard Taft signed the papers accepting Arizona into statehood, on February 14, 1912. He still finished third behind Democrat Woodrow Wilson and Bullmoose Party’s Teddy Roosevelt in that fall’s elections. Photo found at Mrs. Convir’s page, Balboa Magnet School  (Can you identify others in the photo?  Who is the young man?)

More:

• Bisbee at the time of statehood
• Oregon statehood story from the Oregon Historical Society

 

 

January 9 – fly your flag today for Connecticut statehood

There were not states at all, yet.  But on January 9, 1788, Connecticut became the fifth of the 13 colonies to ratify the proposed Constitution for the United States of America.  Within 12 months, four more colonies ratified the document, making it effective.  When the government of the new nation started functioning in 1789, Connecticut was counted as the fifth state.

Capitol building for Connecticut in Hartford; this photo is from the rear of the building, so the U.S. flag is flying correctly on its own right. The building was completed in 1878. The dome is covered in gold. Image from Wikimedia Commons

To avoid political scheming by anti-federalist colony governors, especially Patrick Henry in Virginia, in September 1787 James Madison proposed that the draft constitution be ratified not by legislatures in the colonies, but instead by a specially-called convention of the people of the colony.  Connecticut’s convention met first on January 3, 1788, and with six days of discussion and debate, passed a resolution of ratification on January 9.

So by tradition, January 9 is Connecticut’s statehood anniversary.  According to U.S. law, citizens and residents of a state should fly their flags on statehood anniversaries.

More:

• Connecticut’s Hall of Flags in the state capitol in Hartford (ConnecticutHistory.org)
• Recreating the Connecticut ratifying convention for history classrooms, background, teachers guide and supporting materials
• Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Georgia had already ratified; since Connecticut had been the sole dissenter in the call for the Philadelphia convention, some have expressed surprise that Connecticut ratified so quickly and easily — some historians attribute this to the efforts of Oliver Ellsworth, a too-much unsung hero of early American history
• Connecticut’s listing at Our Poetry Corner
• January 4 – Fly your flag for Utah statehood (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
• Iowa Statehood, December 28, 1846 – Iowans, fly your flags today (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
• Texas Statehood, December 29, 1845 – 167years ago (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
• Utah statehood: A coda, and a flag code violation (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
• Connecticut witness describes blimp-sized UFO as ‘glowing’ (examiner.com)

Hall of Flags in the Connecticut State Capitol Building; photo by the great photo-historian Carol Highsmith, from the Library of Congress collection; the statue is Connecticut’s Civil War Governor, William A. Buckingham (1804-1875), honored for his personal contributions to the equipping of Connecticut’s men fighting in the Civil War;.

Utah statehood: A coda, and a flag code violation

Holly Munson at the Constitution Center wrote up a piece about Utah’s perhaps odd path to statehood, certainly complementary to my reminder that you could fly your flags on January 4, to honor Utah’s statehood, under the U.S. Flag Code.  Munson’s piece was distributed on Yahoo! News.

Her report is very solid, even though brief.  Utah history is nothing if not a convoluted path to statehood through what amounted to a civil war, the Mexican War, the discovery of gold in California, the transcontinental railroads, mining and immigration, Indian wars, old west shootouts, rampant environmental destruction with sheep grazing and mineral extraction and smelting, union strife, astonishing agricultural applications, and a lot of books written from tens of thousands of Mormon pioneer journals — Mormonism appears to be impossible without ink and paper and time to write.

Go read her story.

What caught my eye was the George W. Reed photograph of the Salt Lake City Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — the LDS, or Mormon church.  The Temple and the Tabernacle, also in the photo, both have their own unique architectural histories, and quirks that make them noteworthy purely from architecture.  (This George W. Reed should not be confused with the Civil War Medal of Honor winner, George W. Reed)

Reed was an early photographer for newspapers in Salt Lake City, and he took some wonderful photos for posterity.  He was also a founder of the leading non-Mormon paper in the state, The Salt Lake Tribune.  At points in its history, it’s been known as an anti-Mormon paper.  The University of Utah’s library holds about five dozen of his photos in their collection, indexed electronically if not quite available yet; there Reed is described:

A pioneer in the development of Utah newspapers, George Reed was originally employed by the Deseret News and in 1871 helped in establishing the Salt Lake Tribune. His photographs include nineteenth century views of Salt Lake City, individuals at Reed’s Avenue home, Wasatch Resort in Little Cottonwood Canyon, and a photograph of the American flag hung on the Salt Lake Temple in 1896 to commemorate Utah’s statehood.

In the collection of Utah State University, in Logan, Reed has yet more papers.  There we get a bit more of his history:

A pioneer in Utah journalism, George W. Reed was born in London, England, on April 7, 1833. He emigrated to Utah in 1862 and became manager of the Deseret News, a position he held until 1871 when he founded the Salt Lake Tribune. In 1882, after a decade at the Tribune, Reed sold his interest in the paper to P. H. Lannan. He married Elizabeth Tuddenham in 1866 and passed away December 1, 1909.

The Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah, draped with a U.S. flag in 1896, commemorating the completion of Utah’s statehood campaign when President Grover Cleveland declared Utah a member of the Union. Photo by George W. Reed; Reed worked for the Deseret News, and helped found the Salt Lake Tribune. I do not know whether this photo was published in either paper.  From the George W. Reed Collection, University of Utah Libraries.

Yes, you’re right!  That flag is backwards.  Well, it’s backwards according to the modern U.S. Flag Code, which specifies that when hung from a building, the flag’s union should always be in the viewer’s upper left corner (“northwest” corner were it a standard map).  In the photograph, the union is in the opposite corner.  No, we know the photo is not reversed, because it accurately portrays the location of the Tabernacle, to the west and slightly south of the Temple.

But we hear the protests:  The U.S. Flag Code did not exist in 1896!  How can that be a violation of a code that did not exist?

That’s right, too.

That is an indication that the traditions of flag display that some people get riled up about, that many people think we should amend the Constitution to protect, are new inventions more than old traditions.  Flag code violations are legion by well-meaning citizens celebrating the flag and patriotism, and rare by anyone with any malignant motives.

After a 49-year fight for statehood, through wars with the U.S., fighting with the U.S. forces in Mexico, the administrations of several presidents and 25 different U.S. Congresses, and pledges to change the rules of the church to ban polygamy and put that ban in the state constitution,  the people of Utah, especially the Mormon officials, were not trying to insult America by displaying the flag incorrectly.  Somebody said ‘fly the flag from the Temple,’ and some engineer or custodian got it done.  By 1896, most of the First Amendment litigation done in the U.S. had involved whether Mormons could keep their marriage policies (Mormons lost).  There was no intent to violate any rule of separation of church and state — nor would that be considered a violation today.  Churches may fly the nation’s flag with all the approval that suggests; it’s the government which may not fly a church’s flag.

Finally, there is no grand story in the flag’s being flown backwards.  It’s just one of those historical footnotes that mark the changing mores of the times, in this case, for standards of how to fly the U.S. flag.

Perhaps Utah history textbooks should make note of the day the U.S. flag was flown, backwards, to honor statehood.

More, and related resources:

• January 4 – Fly your flag for Utah statehood (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
• Flag etiquette: Cowboys Wal-Mart fail on flag flying (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
• Texas Statehood, December 29, 1845 – 167 years ago (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
• Fly your flag today: Merry Christmas! (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
• A Flag Day History of the Stars and Stripes (history.com)
• Iowa Statehood, December 28, 1846 – Iowans, fly your flags today (timpanogos.wordpress.com)

January 4 – Fly your flag for Utah statehood

South entrance (main) to the Utah State Capitol, with U.S. and Utah flags flying on the single flag poll, and the snow-dusted Wasatch Mountains in the background. Utah State Law Library photo.

Utah joined the Union on January 4, 1896.  It had been a 49-year slog to statehood for Deseret, the Mormon settlement in the Desert.  The size had been pared down, so it would not be the biggest state, incorporating parts of what is now Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado and New Mexico.  New capitals had been tried and cast aside (Fillmore, Utah).  Democratic Party rule was broken when LDS church authorities went door-to-door, calling every other family to the Republican Party, and party parity.  The Mormon Church abandoned polygamy, and adopted a state constitution that gave the vote to women.

Finally, Utah became the 45th state.

You may fly your U.S. flag today for Utah statehood, especially if you’re in Utah.

More:

• Utah’s very interesting path to statehood (constitutioncenter.org)
• Utah statehood story at Utah.com
• Utah statehood discussed at PBS page for “The Mormons”
• “Utah: The struggle for statehood,” Production from KUED Channel 7, the PBS station operated by the University of Utah; curriculum guide (the entire production is available online for classroom use)
• Iowa Statehood, December 28, 1846 – Iowans, fly your flags today (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
• Texas Statehood, December 29, 1845 – 167years ago (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
• LDS scholars: “Mormon moment” could expand into cultural shift (denverpost.com)
• When Did Utah Become a State (wanttoknowit.com)
• Yeah; I missed Alaska’s statehood on January 3, and Georgia’s on January 2.  Cut my pay.  My apologies — maybe next year.

U.S. flag flying at Capitol Reef National Park, in Utah. Photo by longyang0369, via Flickr

Texas Statehood, December 29, 1845 – 167 years ago

U.S. and Texas flags at the Texas Capitol – photo: jmtimages

167 years ago today: Rub your pet armadillo’s belly, slaughter the fatted longhorn, crank up the barbecue pit with the mesquite wood, put Willie Nelson and Bob Wills on the mp3 player, put the “Giant” DVD on the television, and raise your glass of Big Red, Dr. Pepper, or Lone Star Beer (or Pearl, or Shiner Bock, or Llano Wine).

U.S. Flag Code rules urge flying the U.S. flag on the anniversary of a state’s joining the Union — even as much as that will frost the tiny band of desperate Texas secessionists.  (Will the secessionists fly the Texas flag at half-staff?)

Texas was admitted to the union of the United States of America on December 29, 1845.

President Polk’s Authorization to Affix the Great Seal to Texas Statehood documents – Texas Memorial Museum, University of Texas at Austin

The text of Polk’s message:

I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of State to affix the Seal of the United States to an authenticated copy of “an act to extend the laws of the United States over the State of Texas and for other purposes” approved Dec. 29, 1845 dated this day, and signed by me and for so doing this shall be his warrant.

James K. Polk
Washington, Dec. 29, 1845

Great Seal of the United States of America, affixed to the Texas Statehood Proclamation – image from State Archives Division, Texas State Library

Resources:

• “Annexation – Celebrating 150 years of statehood,” at Humanities Interactive, Texas Council for the Humanities Resource Center (this page is difficult to find if you just go to the Humanities Interactive ste — bookmark it!)
• Teachers Guide from Humanities Interactive
• “Celebrating 150 Years of Texas Statehood,” essay by James L. Haley
• Texas Annexation map activity (with map of U.S. – may be used by classes outside of Texas, too)
• Texas Treasures – Statehood, Texas State Library and Archives Commission
• Texas Statehood Flag, Gallery of the Republic
• Daughters of the Republic of Texas site, with this reminder: Texas Statehood Day [February 19, 1846] (Texas wouldn’t take “yes” for an answer then, either.)
  “The legal entry of Texas into the Union was 29 December 1845, but the decade-old Republic of Texas did not formally transfer the authority to the new State of Texas until 19 February 1846.The Texans had until the end of the year in 1845 to accept the annexation as one of the states of the United States of America. They waited until 29 December 1845 to accept the terms, independent to the end. The formal transfer of authority from the Republic of Texas took place 19 February 1846 at the log capitol in Austin with President Anson Jones presiding. On this day we celebrate the end of the Republic of Texas.”
• Texas Honor Days (days to fly the Texas flag), Daughters of the Republic of Texas
• Stamp honoring 100 years of Texas Statehood (Arago site)

More:

• Iowa Statehood, December 28, 1846 – Iowans, fly your flags today (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
• White House Petition To Let Texas Secede Reaches Goal (dfw.cbslocal.com)
• Priceless documents from Texas’ early days survive a hurricane and a fire (star-telegram.com)
• Texas’ Independence (stuartwilde.com)
• One more time: No, Texas cannot secede; no, Texas can’t split itself (2012 edition) (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
• Secession petitions grow but without legal weight (mysanantonio.com)
• Can Texas Secede from The Union? (cgpgrey.com)

Iowa Statehood, December 28, 1846 – Iowans, fly your flags today

Iowans may fly their flags today in celebration of the anniversary of Iowa statehood.  Iowa’s admission to the Union came on December 28, 1846; Iowa was the 29th state admitted.

The Flag Code, 4 USC §6 (d), notes that the U.S. flag may be flown on “the birthdays of States (date of admission),” in addition to the other score of dates specifically written into law.

American Flag, Spencer, Iowa, 1996 – caption from the National Geographic Society: A man rolls up U.S. flags at the end of the Clay County Fair in Spencer, Iowa. “Although the population of Spencer is only about 12,000, the fair draws some 300,000 visitors. Once a year, rising from the endless flatness of the Iowa countryside, a crowd forms—to stroll, to hear big country music acts like the Statler Brothers, to sell a grand champion boar, to buy a new silo.” (Photographed on assignment for, but not published in, “County Fairs,” October 1997, National Geographic magazine) Photograph by Randy Olson; copyright National Geographic Society

Texas Statehood, December 29, 1845

166 years ago today: Rub your pet armadillo’s belly, slaughter the fatted longhorn, crank up the barbecue pit with the mesquite wood, put Willie Nelson and Bob Wills on the mp3 player, put the “Giant” DVD on the television, and raise your glass of Big Red, Dr. Pepper, or Lone Star Beer (or Pearl, or Shiner Bock, or Llano Wine).

Texas was admitted to the union of the United States of America on December 29, 1845.

President Polk’s Authorization to Affix the Great Seal to Texas Statehood documents – Texas Memorial Museum, University of Texas at Austin

The text reads:

I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of State to affix the Seal of the United States to an authenticated copy of “an act to extend the laws of the United States over the State of Texas and for other purposes” approved Dec. 29, 1845 dated this day, and signed by me and for so doing this shall be his warrant.

James K. Polk
Washington, Dec. 29, 1845

Great Seal of the United States, as affixed to Texas Statehood proclamation - image from State Archives Division, Texas State Library

Resources:

• “Annexation – Celebrating 150 years of statehood,” at Humanities Interactive, Texas Council for the Humanities Resource Center (this page is difficult to find if you just go to the Humanities Interactive ste — bookmark it!)
• Teachers Guide from Humanities Interactive
• “Celebrating 150 Years of Texas Statehood,” essay by James L. Haley
• Texas Annexation map activity (with map of U.S. – may be used by classes outside of Texas, too)
• Texas Treasures – Statehood, Texas State Library and Archives Commission
• Texas Statehood Flag, Gallery of the Republic
• Daughters of the Republic of Texas site, with this reminder: Texas Statehood Day [February 19, 1846]
  The legal entry of Texas into the Union was 29 December 1845, but the decade-old Republic of Texas did not formally transfer the authority to the new State of Texas until 19 February 1846.The Texans had until the end of the year in 1845 to accept the annexation as one of the states of the United States of America. They waited until 29 December 1845 to accept the terms, independent to the end. The formal transfer of authority from the Republic of Texas took place 19 February 1846 at the log capitol in Austin with President Anson Jones presiding. On this day we celebrate the end of the Republic of Texas.
• Texas Honor Days (days to fly the Texas flag), Daughters of the Republic of Texas
• Stamp honoring 100 years of Texas Statehood (Arago site)

7th time the charm: Exhibit on Utah’s becoming the 45th state

Interior of main floor (second floor) of Utah Capitol, looking west from the Rotunda to the House of Representatives' chamber - Wikimedia photo by BigBen

Got a couple of hours in Salt Lake City?

Utah’s copper-domed capitol building is among my favorites in the U.S. for style and grace.  The high-hillside location gives one a hawk’s eye view of Salt Lake City and especially State Street (which runs, by tradition, south about 400 miles to the Utah-Nevada border).  So it’s a good piece of architecture to tour.

Starting March 3, it will also have a display on Utah’s many attempts to become a state.  Between 1847 and 1896 when finally admitted to the union, Utah submitted seven different constitutions trying to get approval of Congress.  Utah relocated its capital to the center of the state, named the town Fillmore and the county Millard to flatter the sitting president.  That didn’t work, either.  Later the capital was moved back to Salt Lake City, nearer to where most of the people resided.

To assuage fears that Utah would upset the balance of power in Washington, at one point Latter-day Saint church authorities designated every-other household Democrat or Republican, giving Utah a 50/50 split electorate that survived in that fashion until the 1970s.

It’s all there at the exhibit, in the capitol building.

It took 7 Constitutions and 47 years to get Utah admitted as the Nation’s 45th state. The Utah State Capitol celebrates that effort in a free exhibit opening on March 3,2010. Open March 2010 through Jan. 2011! Free to the Public! Docent guided tours available! For more information visit www.utahstatecapitol.utah.gov Hours: Mon-Fri: 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. Sat & Sun: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. This exhibit is a building-wide exhibit. Main displays are located on the 1st and 4th floors. Ask any Capitol Docent for additional help.

Tip of the old scrub brush to UtahPolicy.com.

Utah Capitol, photographed from the headquarters of the LDS Church - dlmark photo