Official Salute to the Flag of North Carolina

by Steven Case and Amy Kemp, 2017.
NC Government & Heritage Library.

See also: North Carolina State Symbols and Official Adoptions main page

In 2007, the General Assembly approved the language for an Official Salute to the State Flag of North Carolina (Session Laws, 2007, c. 36).

Selection as the State Salute

Though the state flag has been required to be displayed at all state building and courthouses since 1907, the flag did not have its own official salute until one hundred years later. The bill to adopt the official state salute was introduced by Senator Katie Dorsett of Guilford County. General assembly members claimed the salute was a way to boost respect and loyalty to North Carolina. The bill passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate. The salute chosen had been in use for years by various political groups and women’s clubs, but had never before been written down in the law books.

About the State Salute

The phrase "I salute the flag of North Carolina and pledge to the Old North State love, loyalty, and faith." is adopted as the official salute to the North Carolina flag.

North Carolina is the seventeenth state to adopt an official flag pledge or salute.

The statutes relating to the salute are in the N.C. General Statutes, Chapter 144.