US Army 250th: The White Stripes and Bright Stars

Discovering the virtues behind the nation's colors through the words of George Washington

In my previous post, I shared the virtues behind the color red in our nation’s flag. On June 20, 1782, the Continental Congress reflected on the American Revolution and the sacrifices Americans had made for the cause of independence from England. Congress assigned virtues to the nation's colors: red, white and blue.

When they assigned the virtues of innocence and purity to the flag's white stripes and bright stars, they referred to the innocents in their lives and the purity of motives. The soldiers in our first Army weren't solely defending freedom for themselves. They were doing so for their own firesides, the innocent women and children in their lives.

George Washington also told them that they were fighting for the unborn millions to come. That is us.

The other meaning of the white stars is purity. Congress valued purity of motives. Chivalry was not dead in 1776. However, when George Washington began to meet a number of Frenchmen who had come over to fight, he detected that some of them were motivated by glory. One Frenchman stood out because he told Washington that he had not come to teach but to learn. George Washington concluded that the Marquis De Lafayette was fighting for a pure reason, for liberty. Indeed. Lafayette had defied the orders of the French King and came to America anyway.

Enjoy this video using George Washington's words to explain the meaning of innocence and purity during the nation's founding.

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