“A thoughtful mind, when it sees a nation’s flag, sees not a flag only, but the nation itself; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, be read chiefly in the flag of the government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs to the nation that sets it forth.”

- Henry Ward Beecher, “The National Flag,” 1861.

“Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 – March 8, 1887) was a prominent, theologically liberal American Congregationalist clergyman and social reformer, and famous speaker who was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, the son of famous evangelist Lyman Beecher. All his life he remained close to one of his older sisters, Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

Wikipedia.com