|
The United States national
flag,
commonly referred to as the stars and stripes, originated in the mid-18th century from flags used at the time of the American War of
Independence with Britain.
Congress officially set
the design of the flag on the 14th of June 1777, in the first Flag
Act, stating that it should be 13 alternating red and white stripes,
with 13 white stars on a blue field. Thirteen represented the original
number of member states in the newly formed Union.
Initially, as new states
joined the Union an additional star and an additional stripe were
added to the flag. As the number of states in the Union grew, the
design of the flag was revised.
The Flag Act of 1818
stated that the flag would revert to its original 13 alternating
stripes, from the 15 it had grown to. It also advised that each new
state joining the Union would be represented on the flag as a star and
that new stars would be added to the flag on the 4th of July, after
the states admission to the Union. The 4th of
July is Independence Day in the United States.
Interestingly, the Flag Act of 1777 didn't set out how the stars should appear
on the flag, which led to a number of different star patterns and
arrangements. This continued until 1818, when the President advised
that the stars should appear in parallel rows; the President's
direction was officially
adopted by the government in 1912.
The last star to be added
to the flag, on the 4th of July 1960, represented Hawaii. It produced
the 27th version of the flag and brought the total number of stars to
50. |
