The American Flagand

The National Anthem

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© North Carolina Community College System

A new millennium, a new decade, and a new year begins on

January 1, 2001!

But tragedy soon follows. America is attacked.

On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijack commercial planes. They fly them into the

World Trade Center in New York City.

Many people die. The twin towers of the World Trade Center are destroyed.

The people of the United States show their patriotism by flying the American flag.

The American Flag has special meaning.

Its stars and stripes show many states joined into one United States of America.

In 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed the first flag act.

“Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.”

The Betsy Ross Flag

Today there are still 13 stripeson the flag.

These stripes represent the 13 original colonies.

Today there are 50 stars on the flag.

Each star represents a state.

To find North Carolina’s star, start on the top row and count across each row—left to right—until you get to the 12th

star.

North Carolina was the 12th state

to join the Union.

Every year on June 14, Americans celebrate Flag Day.

On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the flag for their new country.

Flag day is not a federal holiday.

The flag inspired our National Anthem.

• Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer. In the War of 1812, he was negotiating a prisoner exchange. He was on a British ship in Baltimore Harbor.

• That night the British bombed

Fort McHenry with military rockets.

• When dawn came, Key wasamazed to see the Stars andStripes still flying above the fort.

• He wrote the words to the Star Spangled Banner.

• Congress made this song our National Anthem in 1931.

You can play the Star Spangled Banner on the web site below. Click on the triangle near the music notes (lower right corner) of the web site. Be sure your sound is on. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner

The Star Spangled BannerOh, say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Proper Respect• The National Anthem honors the flag

and should be treated with the same respect.