The American flag wasn’t always revered as it is today. At the beginning, it was an afterthought

By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The American flag will be flown throughout the country on July 4, but it wasn’t always a revered and debated symbol. Unlike the right to assemble or trial by jury, the flag’s role was not prescribed by the founders: Flags would have been rare during early Independence Day celebrations and were so peripheral to early U.S. history that no original flag exists. Its evolution over the past 2 1-2 centuries reflects the current events of a given moment and the country’s transformation from confederation of states to global superpower. In the words of one scholar, the flag was “really an afterthought.”