Roger Williams is a founder too. The 1680 Massachusetts colony agreed they should design any flag they wanted and, “without exception, they removed the cross from their flags.”
This is the first de facto Massachusetts flag, red with a white canton.
The 1780 Seal of the State of Massachusetts carried the inscription:
Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem
By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty
I left a comment at Daniel Burka’s Delta Tango Bravo saying that early flags say so much about the founding of America, but we let creepy pundits and politicians argue until we forget the dedication and strength and hope under these flags.
Flags teach.
This 1816 flag is the oldest flag in Canada.