Standard of the Society of Sons of the Revolution
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A Century of Service (continued)
The Society had reached the
age of two years when the subject of flags was first acted upon -- a subject
which has been of importance ever since. The first took the form of adopting
a Pennsylvania Society flag, which within one month was adopted as that
of the General Society also. At the start of the 1890's, J. Granville
Leach is said to have originated the idea of Flag Day on June 14th, which
idea he presented to the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America.
In 1893 that organization passed a resolution requesting the Mayor of
Philadelphia and all citizens to display the flag on that day; and in
that year our Society endorsed the movement and created a Committee on
Flags authorized to purchase facsimiles of the flags actually carried
during the Revolution. Within a few years the remnants of two original
flags carried in that conflict were acquired and enclosed between sheets
of glass. They have been fully authenticated and restored in recent years
by the most modern methods. Continuing this tradition, in recent years
the Pennsylvania Society's Color Guard has provided substantial financial
assistance to the First City Troop in repairing and restoring their collection
of original flags and guidons housed in their Armory at 23rd and Ranstead
in Philadelphia, which date back to the Revolutionary War.
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The Formation of the Color Guard
The Color Guard came into
existence in 1897 by the authority of the Board of Managers, to care for
the then collection of thirteen flags. At many annual meetings replicas
of other flags were donated by members, until now the Guard is charged
with the care and display of the Society's collection of 58, of which
12 are now retired. Through the years the Color Guard has always furnished
a devoted core of attendance at all Society functions and at the Triennial
Conventions of the General Society. The Pennsylvania Society pioneered
with its Color Guard: at the 1914 Triennial Convention of the General
Society, all state societies were by resolution urged to organize similar
groups.
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Competition - the Sons of the American Revolution
Another area of great activity in the 1890s related to the basic nature of the Pennsylvania Society's continued existence. It was fomented by the formation of the entirely separate organization, the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR).
An early member of our New York Society was William O. McDowell, one of the most extraordinary figures in the history of American patriotic societies. McDowell's approach and schemes were far more liberal than the conservative leaders of the New York Society could countenance. He was such an audacious and promotional organizer on the large scale that it quickly became obvious that his energies could not be kept within the confines of the established organization. It was from McDowell's boundless energies that the SAR came into being. He also claimed credit for founding the Daughters of the American Revolution and other patriotic organizations.
McDowell's thinking early took his actions far beyond the scope of those of the Sons of the Revolution (SR), which had essentially remained at the state society level for some years. He reversed that process and at once with very wide promotion created a new national society -- using as a springboard a New Jersey SR society which he hastily formed. Political ambition seems to have been one of his motivations, combined with a fanatic emphasis on patriotism. Yet within a few years he was removed from control of the very groups he organized.
In the spring of 1989 the centennial of the commencement of the United States government under the Constitution was celebrated in New York City. Anticipating that representatives from all the states would be present, McDowell and another New York Society SR member met on March 7 in Newark to form a New Jersey society under the SR name. Electing themselves to office, the adopted a constitution which admitted women to membership, as well as collateral descendants. Immediately they organized a committee under McDowell to form other state societies from which would form a national society.
At once, McDowell proceeded from state to state, published advertisements for mass meetings, and formed state societies under the name Sons of the Revolution, often with very few persons. Next, McDowell requested approval for the New Jersey one, without divulging that measures had been taken to establish other state organizations. This request was apparently for the purpose of making palatable an invitation to the older New York and Pennsylvania societies to join with McDowell's group in forming a new national organization during the centennial ceremonies in New York.
The invitation to the "old" societies was coupled with one to the hastily formed "new" ones to send delegates to a meeting at Fraunces Tavern on April 30, 1889, for the purpose of forming a general organization. In addition, the governors of the various states were invited to send delegates to the meeting.
On April 30 a great military parade took place as a part of the celebration. The journal of J. Granville Leach of the Pennsylvania Society (heretofore quoted) tells the story of the meeting that day:
I was with the Governor and on the morning of the parade I asked him to allow me to stay out of it, and instead to attend the meeting at Fraunces Tavern, which I did. When the meeting organized, the secretary asked those present to give in their names, and the organization they represented. I arose, gave my name, and stated that I was a member of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution, but attended, not as a representative of the Society, but merely as a spectator and suggested that I would leave the meeting if those present did not desire my presence. Whereupon I was asked to remain. The first question discussed was the advisability of forming a new society. I participated in the discussion and strongly opposed such action, but without avail. McDowell's plan was adopted. The name for the new society was the next matter discussed, and this name, The Society of Sons of the Revolution, was forcefully brought forward, whereupon I arose to protest, and made a vehement argument in opposition. In part, I said that I could not conceive that a body of gentlemen would steal a name, by adopting one already adopted and chartered by an organization in the State of New York, and of many years in standing, none of whose membership participated in the present assemblage, and 100 of whom were prominently and actively engaged at that moment, serving on various committees furthering the historic celebration then under way in the City of New York. Several of the gathering were impressed by my speech, with the result that, after considerable debate, it was voted to name the new society "The Sons of the American Revolution."
The SAR quickly became larger than the original organization. At the meeting of April 30 McDowell became vice-president-at-large. Soon he was a "vice president general." As such he devoted the greater part of his time to organizing similar groups everywhere in the United States. Shortly after the formation of the group he obtained the interest of Seymour Webb and had him elected president. Webb financed a paid agent to assist in the work. By the end of May, 1890 the SR of New York and Pennsylvania numbered some 800 members; but the SAR had enough more so as to set up rival societies in both states, to assail the conservative group as "preventing harmony" by refusing to amalgamate, and to state blandly that nothing could retard union of the two groups "except a lack of patriotic spirit on the part of the Societies S. R." Pressure for merger consistently came from SAR sources.
The dispute was taken up by the newspapers. Once having entered the lists, they continued their agitation through the 1890s. The Republic of New York, favored the SAR; The Inquirer of Philadelphia, the SR.
The Sons of the Revolution responded with sincerity to proddings for merger talks. A letter from the President of the New York Society, F. S. Tallmadge, on September 20, 1892 conveys something of the excitement of the times:
You may have heard from Judge Pennypacker of the results of your meeting on the 14th. He left as we were approaching the most critical part of our meeting…but the loyalty of Mr. Trumbull to us and the six officers present, and Mr. Montgomery, our Secretary, gave us a majority…. When we parted after a very genial meeting on the 6th of August it was understood each side should prepare a draft of the Constitution embodying the decisions of the day. I obeyed instructions and invited Mr. Trumbull and Mr. Woodruff to my house, when on the morning of the 14th we went over each paragraph, but what was my surprise when we met at one o'clock to find mine was the only draft, and the American Sons had not even brought a copy of their Constitution with them. They had evidently met in caucus and decided to approve everything except their own Constitution -- that or nothing. So, as soon as I began to read they began to object and insisted upon going behind the previous meeting, and opening the whole question of name, colors, eligibility, insignia, etc….
Although the merger proposed in the early 1890s never came about, the idea was thoroughly tested later and under conditions of more calm and reflection. Repeated efforts seem to have demonstrated that there was little basis for success, primarily because of the differences in eligibility requirements, and indeed temperament, of the two groups. For example, in 1896 a triennial convention of the SR invited the SAR to unite on the basis of review by a disinterested committee chosen from both societies of all membership applications in each and the striking of collateral descendants from the rolls. The invitation was never accepted. Again in the 1930s a serious effort at merger failed.
Pennsylvania has in the past
been little enthused about union. The Board of Managers report as early
as 1897 seems to have voiced an enduring local sentiment. "We in Pennsylvania
are of a conservative turn of mind, and like to stand by our traditions….
We are satisfied with our Society as it is, and desire no change." Although
the idea of merger has been voiced even after World War II, it has not
received serious attention.
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