---
type: "LegalText"
title: "36 U.S.C. § 230102"
description: "Purposes"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 36
title_name: "PATRIOTIC AND NATIONAL OBSERVANCES, CEREMONIES, AND ORGANIZATIONS"
chapter_number: "2301"
chapter_name: "VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES"
section: "230102"
citation: "36 U.S.C. § 230102"
status: "current"
release_point: "119-100"
release_date: "2026-06-26"
source: "official"
source_url: "https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc36@119-100.zip"
source_identifier: "/us/usc/t36/s230102"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-36/usc36.xml"
source_hash: "b325af1005385cba605561333b28d8638fa99c81c60d90fc61e7cfca5cab929d"
raw_snapshot_hash: "d8bb3c94f12bbd56e49d7a2bc029b1f4ab0bb8b69327e9ddbdf94d7adcac580d"
text_hash: "a70b464f38d5a5f4d748f6234687db32ea8ff2c1847c64f7ef0f69cdb1d018d4"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---

# 36 U.S.C. § 230102 - Purposes

## Text

The purposes of the corporation are fraternal, patriotic, historical, charitable, and educational, and are—

(1) to preserve and strengthen comradeship among its members;

(2) to assist worthy comrades;

(3) to perpetuate the memory and history of our dead, and to assist their surviving spouses and orphans;

(4) to maintain true allegiance to the Government of the United States, and fidelity to its Constitution and laws;

(5) to foster true patriotism;

(6) to maintain and extend the institutions of American freedom; and

(7) to preserve and defend the United States from all enemies.

(Pub. L. 105–225, Aug. 12, 1998, 112 Stat. 1481; Pub. L. 107–242, § 2, Oct. 16, 2002, 116 Stat. 1497; Pub. L. 113–199, § 1(b), Dec. 4, 2014, 128 Stat. 2058.)

## Notes

Historical and Revision Notes RevisedSectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 23010236:113.May 28, 1936, ch. 471, § 3, 49 Stat. 1391.

Editorial Notes

Amendments2014—Par. (3). Pub. L. 113–199 substituted “surviving spouses” for “widows”. 2002—Pub. L. 107–242 inserted “charitable,” before “and educational,” in introductory provisions.