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This study traces the socio-historical developments and modifications of uses, customs, and rituals associated with the national banner of the United States of America from the first Flag Resolution of 1777 through the Second National Flag Conference of 1924. Commitment to the flag is something culturally determined; this study re-examines the history of the American flag in light of this theoretical foundation, and emphasizes contributions of various individuals, organizations, and institutions to the shifting uses of the banner by American society. Military and naval uses predominated in the eighteenth century, but as the nineteenth century continued the significance of the American flag grew in patriotic music, literature, artwork, rhetoric, and demonstrations. The firing on Ft. Sumter triggered a sudden elevation of the flag to most honored status in American civil religion. Following the Civil War, veterans' organizations, hereditary societies, and popular children's magazines all participated in a movement known as the cult of the flag, placing flags in public schools and instituting rituals such as "The Pledge of Allegiance." Flag desecration statutes sought to curb the exploitation of the American flag in the growing field of advertising in the early twentieth century. Following the First World War, the American Legion gathered representatives of influential patriotic and military organizations to officially establish a national code of flag etiquette.

Published in book form with the title "The American Flag, 1777-1924: Cultural Shifts From Creation to Codification" [IVI.CID] 70d7799b-57c7-4e99-9d5e-f5423e9426a3