National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (NSSAR or SAR) was founded in 1889 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. SAR is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and promoting education to our future generations. SAR members volunteer untold hours of service each year in their local communities. SAR is very active in supporting active duty military personnel and assisting veterans as well. We proudly assist classrooms with living history interpreters, lesson planning materials and reenactment events for school aged youth to attend.

As the largest male genealogical societies in the country, SAR boasts tens of thousands of active members in over 550 chapters across the United States and internationally. Any man 18 years or older-regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background-who can prove blood lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution, is eligible for membership. We are on the razor’s edge of allowing DNA proof to be used to prove descent for those with unclear roots. SAR National Headquarters houses one of the nation’s premier genealogical libraries which is fully staffed with graduate level professionally trained genealogical librarians. NSSAR is exempt from Federal income taxes under the provisions of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and receives no government funding, despite being a Congressionally Chartered Organization.

We seek to maintain and extend the institutions of American freedom, patriotism and respect for our national symbols, including but not limited to promoting pride in being American citizens and the unifying force of e pluribus unum. In 1876, there were many celebrations to commemorate the centennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. As part of this patriotic fervor, a group of men in the San Francisco, California, area who were descendants of patriots involved in the American Revolution, formed an organization called the Sons of Revolutionary Sires. Their objective was to have a fraternal and civic society to salute those men and women who pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to the battle for independence from Great Britain. The Sons of Revolutionary Sires desired to keep alive their ancestors’ story of patriotism and courage in the belief that it is a universal one of man’s struggle against tyranny – a story which would inspire and sustain succeeding generations when they would have to defend and extend our freedoms.

Out of the Sons of Revolutionary Sires grew the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, which was organized on April 30, 1889, the one hundredth anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington as our nation’s first president. We have used the acronym SAR to identify ourselves for over one hundred years. The SAR was conceived as a fraternal and civic society composed of lineal descendants of the patriots who wintered at Valley Forge, signed the Declaration of Independence, fought in the battles of the American Revolution, served in the Continental Congress, or otherwise supported the cause of American Independence. The National Society was chartered by an Act of the United States Congress on June 9, 1906. The charter was signed by President Theodore Roosevelt, who was also a member of the Empire State Society, SAR. The charter authorizes the granting of charters to societies of the various states and territories and authorizes the state-level societies to charter chapters within their borders. United States Code TITLE 36 USC​​ then established a federal charter for the National Society, SAR.

Our SAR’s insignia is steeped in historical significance, as related in this scholarly account by Compatriot Duane L. C. M. Galles. Most SAR members are familiar with the insignia found on the membership badge of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Few perhaps are familiar with the history and significance which underlie it. The insignia is not only one of the most beautiful of American hereditary societies; it is also one of the most steeped with history and replete with significance. The insignia was designed in the very early days of the Society by Major Goldsmith Bernard West, Vice-President of the Alabama SAR. The insignia consists of a cross of eight points suspended by an eagle. The cross is of white enamel and has four arms and eight points, each point being decorated with a gold head. Its source is the cross of the ancient chivalric Order of St. Louis, founded by Luis XIV in 1693.

WHY THE ORDER OF ST. LOUIS?

The cross of the Order of St. Louis is identical to the SAR cross except in three details. The central medallion of the SAR symbol bears the image of Washington rather than that of St. Louis; the medallion is surrounded by the SAR Latin motto “Libertas et Patria” or “Liberty and Country,” rather than the military order’s motto “Bellicae Virtutis Praemium” or “The Reward for Virtue is War;” and the angles between the arms of the cross lack the French fleur de lis. Instead, the SAR surrounds the cross with the laurel wreath of republican victory.

PLEDGE OF THE SAR

We, descendants of the heroes of the American Revolution who, by their sacrifices, established the United States of America, reaffirm our faith in the principles of liberty and our Constitutional Republic, and solemnly pledge ourselves to defend them against every foe.

FRENCH AID INFLUENTIAL

Several reasons made the St. Louis cross an appropriate pattern for the SAR insignia. The Grand Master of the Order of St. Louis, Louis XVI, lent the American rebels material and diplomatic aid which was indispensable for the defeat of the British. Moreover, a great many of the French officers who fought for the American patriot cause were chevaliers of the Order. Beyond that, the Order of St. Louis had had a significant presence in North America. During the French Colonial period, somewhere around three hundred chevaliers of St. Louis saw service in on the North American continent. Hence, it was in recognition of France’s decisive aid and the Order’s significant presence in North America that the SAR chose the St. Louis cross as a model for its own.

But the adoption of the cross of St. Louis was appropriate for other reasons as well. The Order of St. Louis was the first order of military merit. Earlier orders, like the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and the Order of the Garter, were crusading or chivalric orders. They were open to members of the nobility ready to undertake deeds of religion or chivalry. But those deeds were international in scope: all Christendom was to be the beneficiary of the knight’s good deeds. By contrast, the Order of St. Louis was established to reward military service to one’s own country and it was the first to do so. Since the SAR has as its purpose the remembrance and recognition of the military service of their Revolutionary War ancestors to their country, the adoption of the St. Louis cross seemed most apropos.

LEGION OF HONOUR INFLUENCE

The laurel wreath is significant, for it is derived from another French order, the Legion of Honour. Instituted by Napoleon shortly after his advent to power, the Legion of Honour was intended to fill a vacuum left by the disappearance of the old royal orders during the Revolution. Napoleon, like Louis XIV before him, recognized the importance of rewarding faithful public service and recognizing merit. Hence, he instituted the Legion of Honour, which to this day remains one of the most prestigious orders of merit in the world. Napoleon’s order however differed from the old royal orders. Those either presupposed or conferred nobility. They were inextricably linked to the caste system. But with the Legion of Honour came a new basis for reward: personal merit rather than birth. Thus, it will not be surprising that the SAR insignia is also consciously modeled on the Legion of Honour badge. The laurel wreath is borrowed from the Legion of Honour. Even the size of the SAR badge is designed to be exactly the same as the Legion of Honour’s badge. But the SAR refused to follow the Legion of Honour in all respects. Unlike the five-armed Legion of Honour cross, the SAR cross resolutely retains the four arms of the cross of Christ. This is as if to declare that the excesses of deism and atheism of the French Revolution are to be eschewed by an American patriotic society; American is a nation under God.

THE EAGLE DENOTES PATRIOTISM

Also distinctly American is the eagle which suspends from the cross. Badges and insignias of European orders had used a trophy (a war helmet), a wreath, or a gold loop to symbolize their chivalric purposes. But the purpose of the SAR was not chivalry, but patriotism. Hence, the SAR appropriately adopted the eagle which the Society of the Cincinnati had previous selected for their insignia. The SAR was conceived to mirror the Society of the Cincinnati, though open to all sons of Revolutionary sires without regard to primogeniture. All of these choices and historical influences produced a uniquely American symbol.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fauteux, A. (1940). Les chevaliers de Saint-Louis en Canada. Montreal, Canada: Les Éditions des Dix Publishers.

Gourdon de Genouillac, H. (1891). Nouveau dictionnaire des ordres de chevalerie. Paris, France: E. Dentu Publishers.

Hanson, L. (1803). Accurate historical account of all the orders of knighthood at present existing in Europe. London, United Kingdom.

Hieronymussen, P. O. (1967). Orders and decorations of Europe. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company.

The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. (1890). Historical notes of the organization of societies of Sons of the American Revolution. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons Publishers. Pp. 39-40.

The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. (1991). Centennial history of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, 1889-1989. Paducah, Kentucky: Turner Publishing Company. Page 110.