Flag Burning

Flag Burning

In the late 1800s there was a movement across the nation to protect the American flag. They called it flag desecration laws, it was a crime to desecrate, or show disrespect for the American flag. Back then there was little concern about flag burning. The Supreme Court had not related free-speech claims to conduct in those early days, nor applied the limitation of the first Amendment to the United States of America. It was not long until the state court rulings began striking down the state flag burning laws. The court did not believe that anyone could use the flag for advertising purposes. There was lots of people in the 1900s –1950s having fines for advertising the flag of the United States. “The Court believed that using the American flag for advertising: tends to degrade and cheapen the flag in the estimation of the people, as well as to defeat the object of maintaining it as an emblem of national power and national honor. And we cannot hold that any priv...