The Father of Flag Day, Bernard John Cigrand was very proud of his country and its flag. So proud in fact, that in 1885 in a one room schoolhouse called Stony Hill School in Waubeka, Wisconsin when he was just nineteen years old, Cigrand declared that June 14th should be the birthday of the American Flag. He dedicated his life to instilling children and all Americans with the same patriotism and love for our flag and country that he held in his heart. In the book, The Real Bernard J. Cigrand: Father of Flag Day by James L. Brown, it is said that Cigrand made 2,188 speeches around the country about patriotism and our flag and June 14th being instated as its birthday. Later, Cigrand became the president of the American Flag Day Association and the National Flag Day Society. A statue of his bust stands at the National Flag Day Americanism Center in Waubeka, Wisconsin and Stony Hill School is now a historical site. 
Originally called Decoration Day, Memorial Day began as a way to recognize the men who died fighting in the Civil War. Memorial Day is celebrated every year on the last Monday of May by most states in America. It was first officially recognized as a Federal holiday in 1971 by Congress, though people had been celebrating Memorial Day since the late 1860s. 
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In horrible times of economic recession and lack of income, job loss and instability it seems hard to find stuff for which to be thankful. But a quick review of the origins of Thanksgiving Day in the United States and its official establishment will give insight into the real meaning of the act of giving thanks.
The original Thanksgiving celebration is traditionally thought to be a three-day feast held by the pilgrims and Native Americans to give thanks for a bountiful harvest in 1621. The same people who had bravely sailed to a new world with nothing but what was carried in their ship held the feast in Plymouth suffered through the hardship of the climate of New England with little or no food and with the help of the local Indians and a good growing season they saw another winter with better provisions.
Thanksgiving was a tradition that the pilgrims carried from their native countries. It was common to give thanks for bountiful provision and success in battle. These people knew the hardships of life in a way that we in a modern age are not accustomed. For them death, hunger, plague and pestilence were everyday fears and to be free from those fears was a reason to be thankful.
The establishment of the official Thanksgiving Day observance in the United States happened in 1863 when Abraham Lincoln set the last Thursday of November as the day that U.S. citizens would give thanks and praise to our “beneficent Father” in heaven. In his own words, President Lincoln summed up the purpose of Thanksgiving:
“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
It was during the time of the greatest struggle in U.S. history, when brother was fighting brother and American sons were dying by the thousands that Thanksgiving Day was established as an official celebration within the U.S. President Lincoln was a man who carried the weight of the Union that he loved on his shoulders and led through the darkest days of our countries history. Yet it was this same president that had the vision to see the goodness of God through it all and establish a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to God.
There is a connection between hardship and thanksgiving. There is a bond between feeling loss and remembering that which you have been giving. It is in times of despair that people realize all that they have and how grateful they should be for having it. Remember to give thanks this year. Shut off the T.V. Don’t listen to the talking heads. No worries about what the celebrities are doing. Think about what you have been given and give thanks for it.
As an example of the affects of patriotism on craftsmanship we submit the USS Constitution. This Warship was built and put into service by the United States in 1797 with the Naval Armament Act signed by George Washington. It was listed among six frigates commissioned in the act as the initial step toward a U.S. Navy. The USS Constitution went to work quickly and won all her engagements in the both the Quasi War and the Barbary War. But her most formidable test was to come in 1812 when President James Madison declared war on then Super Naval Power – England. During that war, the USS Constitution, fewer than 3 different captains, defeated five English warships. 
