From: James Wetterau (jwjr@panix.com)
Date: Fri Dec 22 2000 - 08:10:28 MST
Michael Lorrey writes:
> "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" wrote:
> >
> > Harvey Newstrom wrote:
> > > Also be aware that the traditional stars and stripes is technically
> > > our wartime flag. There is a peacetime flag that nobody ever sees.
> >
> > Good heavens.
> >
> > http://www.flagday.com/history/hornswoggled/index.shtml
>
> Well, I can say one reason why the military one is flown: the civil one
> looks like crap.
You think so? The memetic programming has been effective then.
I suspect the military flag was so heavily favored for two reasons.
First, in the early days of the US, flags would not have been
displayed that commonly. The people had no need for constant memetic
reinforcement of their country. Second, few people realize that the
insipiration for the US flag was the East India Company's flag, which
had the bars horizontally. The major innovation in the US flag was
the "new constellation" in the pennant, where formerly the Union Jack
had flown. Evidently the East India Company flag is still the flag of
the state of Hawaii.
You can see the flags here:
http://members.nbci.com/vex_issues/issues/heico.htm
(Look for the first one that covers the revolutionary war period.)
>From the East India Company's web site we learn:
http://www.theeastindiacompany.com/archives/north_america.html
...
The Union Jack and Stripes
The story of the origin of the Stars and Stripes, the American flag,
forms an essential part of every schoolchild's education in the United
States, but it is not commonly known that the inspiration for Betsy
Rose's gift to Washington was the flag of the East India Company,
which consisted of a Union Jack and stripes. Even now the state flag
of Hawaii is the same as the East India Company's flag -- a memorial
to the Company's involvement in the voyages of Captain Cook, who was
to die there.
Colonies lost and won
Two events marked the low point of the Company's involvement with the
fledgling independence movement in the American colonies. One, the
infamous Boston Tea Party in 1773, was a direct result of the drawback
of the government in London of duties on tea which enabled the East
India Company to dump excess stocks on the American colonies, and
acted as a rallying point for the discontented. The other, the defeat
of General Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781 resulted in American
Independence; Cornwallis himself was later to serve with great
distinction in the Company's service in India, and it was said of him
that whilst he lost a colony in the West, he won one in the East.
Whilst the East India Company brought new goods and fashions to
Europe, America was never far behind. The light cottons of India were
well-suited to the humid summers of the South Eastern states, and
calicoes, chintzes, silks, spices, coffee, cocoa and Chinese
earthenware as well as tea all found their way across the water,
mainly shipped by private traders from the Company's warehouses in
London. Even after Independence the East India Company remained a
highly competitive importer of goods into the United States, resulting
in occasional flare-ups such as the trade war between 1812 and 1814.
...
I particularly note the description of the war of 1812 as the "trade
war between 1812 and 1814". That little business of burning the White
House and the Capitol was just a by-product of nasty trade conditions.
This underscores the importance of commercial advantages to the
independence movement. Whether it was the prominence of the East
India company in their thinking, its symbolic importance as an
explorer for the "Northwest Passage" and the involvement of such
notorious and famous figures as Captain Cook, Henry Hudson, Lord
Cornwallis, Captain Kidd, and Elihu and Thomas Yale (foundational
benefactors of Yale College) with the company's exploration, a hope
for freer markets, or a snub to British charters of monopoly, I still
think the flag's origins are quite remarkable. And even more
remarkable is how few US citizens know their flag came from a British
company.
Regards,
James Wetterau
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