Political Quotes

“in 1791, the State of Vermont, the State that I am honored to represent, was admitted to the Union. Kentucky followed. Congress then saw fit to change the design of the American flag for a time to include 15 stars and 15 stripes, one for each State. It was this flag, the one recognizing the addition of Vermont to the Union, that flew over Fort McHenry in 1814, and inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner. Along with Vermonters and many others I find that flag inspirational, as I do the American flag with 48 stars under which my family fought in World War II. I remember the great pride my wife and I felt seeing the current American flag with 50 stars being carried in formation at Paris Island when my youngest son became the newest member of the U.S. Marine Corps. Fifty years after that famous battle that inspired our national anthem in Baltimore's harbor, President Abraham Lincoln visited that city as this country confronted its greatest test. It was a time in which this nation faced grave peril from a civil war whose outcome could not yet be determined. Many flags flew over various parts of the United States and our existence as a nation was in doubt. President Lincoln used the occasion to reflect on a basic feature of American democracy. As Professor James McPherson recently reminded us, Lincoln observed: ``The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty. And the American people just now are much in need of one.…”