Joseph Rodman Drake Quotes
When Freedom from her mountain height Unfurled her standard to the air, She tore the azure robe of night, And set the stars of glory there. She mingled with its gorgeous dyes The milky baldric of the skies, And striped its pure, celestial white With streakings of the morning light.
Joseph Rodman Drake, 1795–1820, Poet, Poem, “The American Flag”
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The 3rd verse is rarely sung because of its reference to the then existing and generally accepted system of indentured servitude and slavery.
As the U.S. flag was unfurled on the brig "Charles Dogget" before a voyage to Asia, the captain said:. This was the origin of the nickname for the American flag which later became so popular in the Civil War. The flag from that ship resides at the Smithsonian Institution.
The notion that a the first line of a national anthem should be focused on the survival of the nation is explained by the history of countries that have and have not existed having been overrun and occupied and absorbed into other nations. That fear exists centuries later. See Poland for another example {642422}.
The song was adopted as the Polish national anthem in 1927. At the battle of Macieowice, the great Polish hero, Thaddeus Kosciusko, was seriously wounded and is said to have uttered, “Poland is finished.” The song written by another General was meant to counteract the psychological effect that the Russian enemies of Poland were trying to create by quoting Kosciusko. There are even today, Polish patriots who claim that Kosciusko never made the statement and it was all propaganda.
