[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 88 (Tuesday, June 12, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1040]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          THE ANNIVERSARY OF FLAG DAY IN HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT

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                          HON. JOHN B. LARSON

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 12, 2012

  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate 
Flag Day, a national celebration of our country and its freedoms, which 
was originally conceived in Hartford, Connecticut.
  The concept for a ``Flag Day'', a commemoration of the 1777 
establishment of our national flag, originated in Hartford shortly 
after the start of the Civil War when Hartford resident Jonathan Morris 
imagined Flag Day as an opportunity to promote the idea of a strong 
union in the face of the growing conflict. He felt that engendering 
pride in our most potent and patriotic symbol of unity might serve as a 
reminder of the sacrifices borne by prior Americans to establish the 
country, and restore a sense of respect for the national government in 
Washington.
  Mr. Morris related his idea to Charles Dudley Warner, editor of the 
Hartford Evening Press, who was impressed by the idea and wrote an 
editorial calling for two new national holidays, Flag Day and 
Constitution Day. On June 14th, 1861, with the country two months into 
the Civil War and with troops mustering in downtown Hartford, residents 
of Connecticut followed his lead and organized the first celebration to 
honor our flag, and all that it stood for.
  After the success of the 1861 celebrations in Hartford, Jonathan 
Morris asked Congressman Dwight Loomis, representing the First District 
of Connecticut in the U.S. House of Representatives, to introduce a 
resolution recommending that the people of the United States observe 
June 14th and September 17th as national holidays, honoring the 
American Flag and the Constitution. Unfortunately, the Congressional 
Resolution was laid on the table and never came up again.
  However, presumably also at the request of Mr. Morris, Connecticut 
State Senator Henry Welch introduced an identical Resolution in the 
General Assembly, which passed the Senate on June 6, 1862, and passed 
the House on June 17, 1862, recommending that the citizens of 
Connecticut observe June 14th and September 17th as Flag Day and 
Constitution Day, making Connecticut the first State to do so.
  Whether it was helping to lay the foundation for the United States 
Constitution, or being the home to distinguished citizens such as Mark 
Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Samuel Colt, Hartford's history has 
forever been interwoven with that of our great country. Given that the 
city of Hartford has played such a historic role in shaping the United 
States, it is no surprise that the idea of Flag Day originated there.

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