{"id":2019,"date":"2015-03-19T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-19T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?p=2019"},"modified":"2024-10-02T15:46:47","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T19:46:47","slug":"fiddling-with-florida-state-flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/fiddling-with-florida-state-flag\/","title":{"rendered":"How Florida fiddled with state flag"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Unofficial<\/a>One hundred and seventy years ago \u2013 in 1845 \u2013 Florida entered the United States as its 27th member and designed a state flag that failed almost immediately. Ever since, Florida has been fiddling with its banner.<\/p>\n

The first flag carried a motto \u2013 \u201cLet Us Alone\u201d \u2013 that many people found offensive. A Vermont newspaper was appalled that \u201cthe new State of Florida has adopted a banner on which [those words] were emblazoned.\u201d In Boston, the Courier termed the slogan \u201ca rather strange one\u201d for a territory coming into a union.<\/p>\n

\"1861<\/a>As a result of the controversy, historians believe the flag was never actually used. With the coming of the Civil War, other banners were raised when Florida seceded. According to the state\u2019s website, \u201cIn God Is Our Trust\u201d was the motto on one of them.<\/p>\n

After the war, the reunited state required another new flag. First, it invented a state seal, which was put on cloth to make a banner. A Constitutional Convention in 1868 decided the legislature should \u201cadopt a State Emblem having the design of the Great Seal of the State impressed upon a white ground of six feet six inches fly and six feet deep.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"1868<\/a>The legislators approved a circular seal \u201chaving in the center thereof a view of the sun\u2019s rays over a high land in the distance, a cocoa tree, a steamboat on water, and an Indian female scattering flowers in the foreground, encircled by the words, \u2018Great Seal of the State of Florida: In God We Trust.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

When the small seal was put on a white flag, critics said the banner needed more color, so diagonal red stripes were suggested. That notion became a constitutional amendment that voters passed in 1900.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Florida's<\/a>
Florida’s state flag (Images from Florida Department of State)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The current flag remains about the same. But, as the state website confesses, \u201cthrough the years, interpretations of the elements of the Great Seal have differed considerably. The steamboat, for instance, has been depicted in a variety of ways. The various images of the Indian female have drawn criticism from historians [who are] conscious of her clothing. The earliest official Great Seal pictured a mountainous background, something absent from the Florida terrain. Another effort showed a feather headdress on the Indian, a blunder in so much as Indian\u00a0males\u00a0wore the headdresses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Florida's<\/a>
Florida’s corrected state seal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A lot of banner\u00a0\u2013 and a lot of changes \u2013 mark the history of the Florida\u00a0state flag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One hundred and seventy years ago \u2013 in 1845 \u2013 Florida entered the United States as its 27th member and designed a state flag that failed almost immediately. Ever since, Florida has been fiddling with its banner. The first flag carried a motto \u2013 \u201cLet Us Alone\u201d \u2013 that many people found offensive. A Vermont… continue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[274,3,242],"class_list":["post-2019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-lessons","tag-florida","tag-history","tag-state"],"yoast_head":"\nHow they fiddled with Florida state flag<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"170 years ago Florida entered the US as its 27th member and designed a state flag that failed. 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