national flag consisting of white stars (50 since July 4, 1960) on a blue canton with a field of 13 alternating stripes, 7 red and 6 white. The 50 stars stand for the 50 states of the union, and the 13 stripes stand for the original 13 states. The flag’s width-to-length ratio is 10 to 19.
After the
American Revolution
began, the first, unofficial national flag?known as the Continental Colours (or, sometimes, as the Grand Union Flag, the Cambridge Flag, the Somerville Flag, or the Union Flag)?was hoisted on a towering 76-foot (23-metre) liberty pole at Prospect Hill in Charlestown (now in
Somerville
), Massachusetts, on January 1, 1776; it was raised at the behest of Gen.
George Washington
, whose headquarters were nearby. The flag had 13 horizontal stripes (probably of red and white or of red, white, and blue) and, in the canton, the first version of the British Union Flag (
Union Jack
). As the flag of the Continental Army, it flew at forts and on naval vessels. Another popular early flag, that of the 1765 Sons of Liberty, had only nine red and white stripes. Various versions of “Don’t Tread on Me” coiled-rattlesnake flags appeared on many 18th-century American colonial banners, including the
Gadsden flag
and several others flown by military units during the Revolutionary War. The version carried by the
Minutemen
of Culpeper County, Virginia, for example, included not only the rattlesnake and the “Don’t Tread on Me” motto but also Virginia patriot
Patrick Henry
’s famous words “Liberty or Death.”
The first official national flag, formally approved by the
Continental Congress
on June 14, 1777, was the Stars and Stripes. That first Flag Resolution read, in toto, “Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field representing a new constellation.” The layout of the stars was left undefined, and many patterns were used by flag makers. The designer of the flag?most likely Congressman Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the
Declaration of Independence
from Philadelphia?may have had a ring of stars in mind to symbolize the new constellation. Today that pattern is popularly known as the “
Betsy Ross
flag
,” although the widely circulated story that she made the first Stars and Stripes and came up with the ring pattern is unsubstantiated. Rows of stars (4-5-4 or 3-2-3-2-3) were common, but many other variations also existed. The new
Stars and Stripes
formed part of the military colours carried on September 11, 1777, at the
Battle of the Brandywine
, perhaps its first such use.
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The Stars and Stripes changed on May 1, 1795, when Congress enacted the second Flag Resolution, which mandated that new stars and stripes be added to the flag when new states were admitted to the Union. The first two new states were
Vermont
(1791) and
Kentucky
(1792). (One such flag was the 1,260-square-foot [117-square-metre] “Star-Spangled Banner,” made by Mary Pickersgill, that
Francis Scott Key
saw at
Fort McHenry
in September 1814, which inspired him to write the patriotic poem that later supplied the lyrics of the
national anthem
.) In 1818, after five more states had been admitted, Congress enacted the third and last Flag Resolution, requiring that henceforth the number of stripes should remain 13, the number of stars should always match the number of states, and any new star should be added on the July 4 following a state’s admission. This has been the system ever since. In all, from 1777 to 1960 (after the admission of
Hawaii
in 1959), there were 27 versions of the flag?25 involving changes in the stars only. An executive order signed by Pres.
William Howard Taft
on October 29, 1912, standardized for the first time the proportions and relative sizes of the elements of the flag; in 1934 the exact shades of colour were standardized.
There is no official assignment of meaning or symbolism to the colours of the flag. However,
Charles Thomson
, secretary of the Continental Congress, in describing the proposed Great Seal of the United States, suggested the following symbolism: “White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valour, and Blue…signifies vigilence [sic], perseverence [sic] & justice.” As with many other national flags, the Stars and Stripes has long been a focus of patriotic sentiment. Since 1892, millions of children have recited the
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
at the start of each school day, and the lyrics of the
national anthem
are also concerned with the flag. After the
U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in 1989 that all flag desecration laws were unconstitutional, some veterans’ and patriotic groups pressured legislators to adopt laws or a constitutional amendment prohibiting flag desecration. Such legislation has been opposed on the grounds that it would infringe on the constitutionally guaranteed
First Amendment
freedom of expression.
During the American Civil War, the
Confederate States of America
began to use its first flag, the Stars and Bars, on March 5, 1861. Soon after, the first Confederate Battle Flag was also flown. The design of the
Stars and Bars
varied over the following two years. On May 1, 1863, the
Confederacy
adopted its first official national flag, often called the
Stainless Banner
. A modification of that design was adopted on March 4, 1865, about a month before the end of the war. In the latter part of the 20th century, many groups in the South challenged the practice of flying the Confederate Battle Flag on public buildings, including some state capitols. Proponents of the tradition argued that the flag recalled Southern heritage and wartime sacrifice, whereas opponents saw it as a symbol of racism and slavery, inappropriate for official display.