Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
FIVE FLAGS (name)
FIVE FLAGS (name) The term "Five Flags" has been traced to the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Julien DUBUQUE and the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Iowa Territory. Held in 1938, the sesquicentennial/ centennial celebration was organized as a five-day pageant called "Under Five Flags."
In 1493, the year after Christopher Columbus discovered the West Indies, the pope granted Spain all the lands Columbus touched believing he had found a continent. Drawing a line from pole to pole, the pope declared that land east of the line claimed by no other Christian country belonged to Portugal; land to the west belonged to Spain. (1)
Although Marquette & Joliet explored the MISSISSIPPI RIVER in 1673, it was Robert Chevalier (of the estate of La Salle), commonly known in history as Robert de la Salle or simply La Salle, who claimed the Mississippi Valley for France in 1682. La Salle named the territory "Louisiana" and described it as all the country drained by the "River St. Louis" (Ohio) and the "Colbert River," (Mississippi). This territory extended from the Alleghenies to the Rocky Mountains and from the source of the Mississippi to its mouth. (2)
In 1763 at the end of the French and Indian War ("Seven Years War" in Europe), the Treaty of Paris was signed. France lost Canada and all of its land east of the middle of the Mississippi River. Unsure of its ability to hold its remaining American possessions, France secretly ceded the remainder of Louisiana to Spain. The open transfer occurred in 1769. Arrangements were made in 1800 by the Treaty of San Ildelfonso for Spain to cede the land back to France. (3)
In 1779 Spain had joined France in support of the American Revolution. In 1780 a series of British military operations were carried out to clear Spanish influence from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico. Capt. Henry Bird, with a force from Detroit, was directed to attack George Rogers Clark at the Falls of the Ohio. General John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll, from Pensacola, after taking New Orleans was to proceed up the Mississippi to Natchez and join a third force that descended the Illinois River and captured St. Louis. Capt. Charles de Langlade was to lead the force down the Illinois, which was to split up and also control Vincennes. None of the missions were successful, but there was a slight break in Spanish rule of Louisiana.
Faced with the costs of military activity in Europe and slave rebellions in its North American holdings, Emperor Napoleon of France in 1803 chose to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States. On April 30, 1803, the United States paid France nearly $12 million and assumed debts of the French government of an additional $3 million. The United States formally took possession of Louisiana on December 20, 1803. Upper Louisiana, including Iowa, however, was not transferred until March, 1804. (4) The five flags, therefore, were the Fleur de Lis of France (1682–1762), the Royal Flag of Spain (1762–1800), the Union Jack of Great Britain (1780, during the American Revolution), the French Republic Flag of Napoleon (1800-1804) and American flag (1804–Present).
See: File:A000387 Under Five Flags program.pdf
Under Five Flags Pageant pictures--courtesy of Timothy Ahlgrim (Note: There were no notes on the photographs other than shown.)
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Source:
PDF courtesy of Timothy Ahlgrim