The United States of America celebrates Flag Day annually to honor the national flag on June 14, the date when the country approved the design of its first flag in the year 1977. 

The idea of creating a separate holiday to pay tribute to the flag struck several people, including a school teacher and a man from Connecticut.

In 1885, Bernard J. Cigrand, a Wisconsin-based educator, urged his pupils to celebrate “Flag Birthday” on June 14. He then propagated the idea through an essay that got published in a Chicago newspaper.

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On the other hand, in 1861, George Morris of Connecticut conducted the first formal celebration of Flag Day in Hartford. 

Decades later, former US President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June 14 as Flag Day.

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“It has therefore seemed to me fitting that I should call your attention to the approach of the anniversary of the day upon which the flag of the United States was adopted by the Congress as the emblem of the Union, and to suggest to you that it should this year and in the years to come be given special significance as a day of renewal and reminder, a day upon which we should direct our minds with a special desire of renewal to thoughts of the ideals and principles of which we have sought to make our great Government the embodiment,” Wilson said in the proclamation, according to Vox. 

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While the occasion is not considered a federal holiday, it is celebrated as a state holiday in Pennsylvania.

Since the proclamation, Flag Day is observed by millions of Americans each year, who wave national flags to celebrate the history and foundational values of their country.