Patriotic Postcards

It's a red-white-and-blue kind of weekend! Happy 4th of July!!
Not surprisingly, I like these quaint, vintage patriotic post cards.


JULY
Handwritten: "Dear old U. S. A. on the 4th of July. My last cent boys(?)" 
COPYRIGHT 1905 THE ULMAN MFG. CO. N.Y. . Postmarked March 1907


"The Star Spangled Banner" Postmarked January 1913

The last three verses of The Star Spangled Banner aren't even vaguely familiar to me.

THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Chorus:

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? 

On the shore dimly seen thro’ the mists of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a Country should leave us no more?

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution:

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,

Oh, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand

Between their loved homes and the war's desolation;

Blest with vict'ry and peace may the Heaven-rescued land

Praise the Pow’r  that hath made and preserved us a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto - "In God is our trust!" 

Written by Francis Scott Key – September 1814

Proclaimed the National Anthem by an Act of Congress – March 3, 1931

"OUR FLAG" 
"WHEN you see the STARS AND STRIPES displayed, son, stand up and take off your hat! Somebody may titter. But don’t you mind! When Old Glory comes along, salute, and let them think what they please! For of all the signs and symbols since the world began, there is never another so full of meaning to mankind as the flag of our country.
That piece of red, white and blue bunting means five thousand years of struggle upward. It is the full blown flower of ages of fighting for liberty. It is the century plant of human hope in bloom.
Our flag stands for no race. It stands for men, men of any blood who will come and live with us under its protection. It is the only banner that means mankind. It is not the flag of our king – it is the flag of ourselves.
OTHER flags mean a glorious past; our flag, a glorious past and a still more glorious future. It is the flag of our fathers, and of our children yet unborn. It is the flag of to-morrow.
It stands for the open door of ambition and opportunity – of equal rights to every one beneath the shadow of its folds.
Our flag waves defiance at all the ghosts that have so long intimidated men: the ghost of monarchy, the ghost of war, and all their kind that still lay shadowy hands upon the life of Europe and Asia.
Listen son! The band is playing ‘The Star Spangled Banner.’ They have let loose Old Glory yonder. Stand up! Some people over there are smiling at us. Stand up, bare your head, lift up your eyes and thank God that you live under that flag, which means the redemption of the world.”



"IN GOD WE TRUST" 
"THE AMERICAN CREED" 
by William Tyler Page. Accepted by House of Representatives, April 3rd, 1918. 
"I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect Union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it; to support its Constitution; to obey its laws; to respect its Flag, and to defend it against all enemies."
 

200 YEARS OF FREEDOM 
Words and Music by Glenn E. Heck 
"Tell all the world a-bout it, Stand on your feet and shout it. 
Two hun-dred years of lib-er-ty…….. 
Tell all the world our Sto-ry, two - hun - dred years of glo - ry. 
We know the joy of be - ing free. . . . . . 
Wake up the world, we're mov-ing, Wake up the world, we're march - ing 
on - ward to high-er des-ti-ny. . . . . 
Two hun - dred years of free-dom, two hun - dred years of free-dom, 
Two hun - dred years of lib - er - ty! 
May our na - tion, un - der God, re - mem - ber where our fa-thers 
trod and raise our ban - ner proud and free for peo - ple of the 
world to see. 
- ty. . . . Two hun - dred years of Fine lib - er - ty!" 
"200 years of freedom is the official Bicentennial Song of Warner Robins, "Georgia's International City", written in 1975 by Glenn Heck. The arrangements for solo, chorus, barbershop quartette [sic] and band are by Lyle Heck."