The Navy Birthday and Flag

From Bill Bennett's American Patriot's Almanac:

The U.S. Navy celebrates its birthday on October 13, the day in 1775 that the Continental Congress authorized the outfitting of two armed vessels to cruise in search of British munitions ships. On that day, Congress also established a Naval Committee to oversee the new navy. John Adams was a member of the committee, and although the Massachusetts representative knew little of naval affairs, he got busy making himself expert. As historian David McCullough writes, the committee “met in a rented room at Tun Tavern [in Philadelphia], and it was Adams who drafted the first set of rules and regulations for the new navy, a point of pride with him for as long as he lived.”

Throughout the Revolution, Adams urged support for the tiny American fleet, telling Congress that “a navy is our natural and only defense.” Over the course of the war, the Continental Navy included about fifty ships of various sizes. After the Revolution, Congress disbanded the navy, then restarted it in 1794 when it ordered the construction of six frigates.

The U.S. Navy flag, adopted in 1959, is a dark blue flag that carries the image of a three-masted square-rigged ship underway before a fair breeze. A bald eagle and an anchor are shown in front of the ship. Navy ships do not fly the Navy flag from their masts. The banner is reserved for display purposes and is carried by honor guards during ceremonies.

Every day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click here to subscribe.

“To bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance”

From Bill Bennett's American Patriot's Almanac:

On this day in 1790, President George Washington was beginning a goodwill tour of New England. His first stop would be Newport, Rhode Island, where citizens met him with booming cannons and a public dinner where dignitaries gave “thirteen toasts abounding with patriotic sentiment.” Moses Seixas, warden of the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, penned a letter welcoming the president to the city. Washington’s response, written the next day, has become a famous pronouncement on religious freedom:

The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy, a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For, happily, the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

As Claremont professor Harry Jaffa has pointed out, this was the first time in history that any ruler addressed the Jews as equals. President Washington closed his letter with these gentle words, taken from Scripture: “May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.”

Every day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click here to subscribe.