Flag of the United States

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United States of America
Other namesThe Stars and Stripes, Old Glory
UseNational flag and ensign
Proportion10:19
AdoptedJune 14, 1777 (13-star version)
July 4, 1960 (50-star version)
DesignThirteen horizontal stripes alternating red and white; in the canton, 50 white stars on a blue field
Designed byVarious
Union Jack. Used as naval jack, 1960–2002.

The flag of the United States of America consists of 13 equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing 50 small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternating with rows of five stars. The 50 stars on the flag represent the 50 U.S. states and the 13 stripes represent the original Thirteen Colonies that rebelled against the British crown and became the first states in the Union.[1] Nicknames for the flag include "the Stars and Stripes", "Old Glory",[2] and "the Star-Spangled Banner" (also the name of the country's official national anthem).

Because of its symbolism, the starred blue canton is called the "union". This part of the national flag can stand alone as a maritime flag called the Union Jack[3] which served as the U.S. jack on warships from 1777 until 2002. It continues to be used as a jack by various federally-owned vessels, including those of the Coast Guard, Military Sealift Command, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Symbolism

The United States flag is one of the nation's widely recognized and used symbols. Within the U.S. it is frequently displayed, not only on public buildings, but on private residences, as well as iconically in forms such as decals for car windows, and clothing ornaments such as badges and lapel pins. Throughout the world it is used in public discourse to refer to the U.S., both as a nation state, government, and set of policies, but also as an ideology and set of ideas.

Many understand the flag to represent the freedoms and rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights and perhaps most of all to be a symbol of individual and personal liberty as set forth in the Declaration of Independence. Through the Pledge of Allegiance and other political uses the flag has also come to be associated with U.S. nationalism, patriotism, and even militarism. The flag is a complex and contentious symbol, around which emotions run high.

In terms of the symbolism of the design itself, a book about the flag published by the Congress in 1977 states: "The star is a symbol of the heavens and the divine goal to which man has aspired from time immemorial; the stripe is symbolic of the rays of light emanating from the sun."[4] George Washington is credited for saying: "We take the stars from Heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing Liberty."[5]

Many people also take the red and white to stand for the blood of those who gave their lives for freedom, and the presumed purity of the freedom ideal, respectively.


Flag ratios

Note that the flag ratio (B in the diagram) is not absolutely fixed. Although the diagram in Executive Order 10834 gives a ratio of 1.9, earlier in the order is a list of flag sizes authorized for executive agencies. This list permits eleven specific flag sizes (specified by height and width) for such agencies: 20.00 × 38.00; 10.00 × 19.00; 8.95 × 17.00; 7.00 × 11.00; 5.00 × 9.50; 4.33 × 5.50; 3.50 × 6.65; 3.00 × 4.00; 3.00 × 5.70; 2.37 × 4.50; and 1.32 × 2.50. Eight of these sizes conform to the 1.9 ratio, within a small rounding error (less than 0.01). However, three of the authorized sizes vary significantly: 1.57 (for 7.00 × 11.00), 1.27 (for 4.33 × 5.50) and 1.33 (for 3.00 × 4.00).

Colors

According to the book "Our Flag," published by the House of Representatives, "The colors red, white, and blue did not have meanings for The Stars and Stripes when it was adopted in 1777." It goes on to say, on page 41 (page 47 of the PDF version)[6] that the colors of the Great Seal of the United States, when it was adopted in 1782, were defined thus: "White signifies Purity and Innocence; Red, Hardiness and Valor; Blue signifies Vigilance, Perseverance and Justice."[7]


Although the Flag Code is U.S. Federal law, there is no penalty for failure to comply with the Flag Code and it is not widely enforced—indeed, punitive enforcement would conflict with the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. Passage of the proposed Flag Desecration Amendment would overrule legal precedent that has been established in this area.


First flag

Grand Union Flag ("Continental Colors").
Flag of the British East India Company, 1707–1801

At the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, the United States had no official national flag. The Grand Union Flag has historically been referred to as the "First National Flag"; although it has never had any official status it was used throughout the American Revolutionary War by George Washington and formed the basis for the design of the first official US flag.

This flag is properly considered the de facto first naval ensign of the United States. It was first raised aboard Continental Navy Commodore Esek Hopkins' flagship Alfred on the Delaware River on December 3, 1775,[8] possibly (according to his claim) by the ship's senior lieutenant John Paul Jones.

The origins of the design are unclear. It closely resembles the British East India Company (BEIC) flag of the same era, and an argument dating to Sir Charles Fawcett in 1937 holds that the BEIC flag indeed inspired the design.[9] However, the BEIC flag could have from 9 to 13 stripes, and was not allowed to be flown outside the Indian Ocean.[10] Both flags could have been easily constructed by adding white stripes to a British Red Ensign, a common flag throughout Britain and its colonies.

Coat of arms of George Washington.

Another theory holds that the red-and-white stripe—and later, stars-and-stripes—motif of the flag may have been based [citation needed] on the Washington family coat-of-arms, which consisted of a shield "argent, two bars gules, above, three mullets gules" (a white shield with two red bars below three red stars).

More likely it was based on a flag of the Sons of Liberty, one of which consisted of 13 red and white alternating horizontal stripes.

The Flag Resolution of 1777

13-star "Betsy Ross" flag
(original had all stars pointed outward, not upward)

On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution which stated: "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." Flag Day is now observed on June 14 of each year. A false tradition holds that the new flag was first hoisted in June of 1777 by the Continental Army at the Middlebrook encampment.[11]

The Flag Resolution did not specify any particular arrangement for the stars. The pictured flag shows the thirteen stars arranged in a circle, the so-called Betsy Ross flag. Although the Betsy Ross legend is not taken seriously by many historians, the design itself is the oldest version of any US flag to appear on any physical relic[citation needed]: it is historically referenced in contemporary battlefield paintings by John Trumbull and Charles Willson Peale, which depict the circular star arrangement. Popular designs at the time were varied and most were individually crafted rather than mass-produced. Other examples of 13-star arrangements can be found on the Francis Hopkinson flag, the Cowpens flag, and the Brandywine flag. Given the scant archaeological and written evidence, it is unknown which design was the most popular at that time.

The origin of the stars and stripes design is uncertain. A popular story credits Betsy Ross for sewing the first flag from a pencil sketch by George Washington who personally commissioned her for the job. However, no evidence for this theory exists beyond Ross' descendants' much later recollections of what she told her family. Another woman, Rebecca Young, has also been credited as having made the first flag by later generations of her family. Rebecca Young's daughter was Mary Pickersgill, who made the Star Spangled Banner Flag. Another popular theory is that the flag was designed by Francis Hopkinson. Hopkinson was the only person to have made such a claim during his own lifetime, when he sent a bill to Congress for his work. He asked for a "Quarter Cask of the Public Wine" as payment initially. The payment was not made, however, because it was determined he had already received a salary as a member of Congress, and he was not the only person to have contributed to the design. It should be noted that no one else contested his claim at the time.

Later flag acts

15-star, 15-stripe "Star-Spangled Banner" flag
48-star flag, is the second longest in use (1912–1959).
An Urban camouflaged American flag patch, as used by the U.S. Military.
See also: Flag Acts (U.S.)

In 1795, the number of stars and stripes was increased from 13 to 15 (to reflect the entry of Vermont and Kentucky as states of the union). For a time the flag was not changed when subsequent states were admitted, probably because it was thought that this would cause too much clutter. It was the 15-star, 15-stripe flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner," now the national anthem.

On April 4, 1818, a plan was passed by Congress at the suggestion of U.S. Naval Captain Samuel C. Reid[12] in which the flag was changed to have 20 stars, with a new star to be added when each new state was admitted, but the number of stripes would remain at thirteen to honor the original colonies. The act specified that new flag designs should become official on the first July 4 (Independence Day) following admission of one or more new states. The most recent change, from 49 stars to 50, occurred in 1960 when the present design was chosen, after Hawaii gained statehood in August 1959. Before that, the admission of Alaska in January 1959 prompted the debut of a short-lived 49-star flag.

As of July 4, 2007, the 50-star flag has become the longest rendition in use.

First salute

The Netherlands was the first country to salute the Grand Union flag, when gun salutes by American ships were returned by officials on Dutch islands in the West Indies in late 1776: on St. Croix in October, and on St. Eustatius in November. (Though later, the better documented St. Eustatius incident involving the USS Andrew Doria is traditionally regarded as the "first salute".) France was the first country to salute the Stars and Stripes, when a fleet off the French mainland returned a gun salute by Captain John Paul Jones commanding the USS Ranger on February 14, 1778. [1]

Historical progression of designs

In the following table depicting the 27 various designs of the United States flag, the star patterns for the flags are merely the usual patterns, often associated with the United States Navy. Canton designs, prior to the proclamation of the 48-star flag by President William Howard Taft on 29 October 1912, had no official arrangement of the stars. Furthermore, the exact colors of the flag were not standardized until 1934[13].

No. of
Stars		 Design States Represented
by New Stars		 Dates in Use Duration
in years
(months)
0 None December 3, 1775[8]–June 14, 1777 1
(18 months)
13 Original 13 states June 14, 1777–May 1, 1795 18
(215 months)
15 (and 15 stripes) Kentucky, Vermont May 1, 1795–July 3, 1818 23
(278 months)
20 (back to 13 stripes) Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Ohio, Tennessee		 July 4, 1818–July 3, 1819 1
(12 months)
21 Illinois July 4, 1819–July 3, 1820 1
(12 months)
23 Alabama, Maine July 4, 1820–July 3, 1822 2
(24 months)
24 Missouri July 4, 1822–July 3, 1836 14
(168 months)
25 Arkansas July 4, 1836–July 3, 1837 1
(12 months)
26 Michigan July 4, 1837–July 3, 1845 8
(96 months)
27 Florida July 4, 1845–July 3, 1846 1
(12 months)
28 Texas July 4, 1846–July 3, 1847 1
(12 months)
29 Iowa July 4, 1847–July 3, 1848 1
(12 months)
30 Wisconsin July 4, 1848–July 3, 1851 3
(36 months)
31 California July 4, 1851–July 3, 1858 7
(84 months)
32 Minnesota July 4, 1858–July 3, 1859 1
(12 months)
33 Oregon July 4, 1859–July 3, 1861 2
(24 months)
34 Kansas July 4, 1861–July 3, 1863 2
(24 months)
35 West Virginia July 4, 1863–July 3, 1865 2
(24 months)
36 Nevada July 4, 1865–July 3, 1867 2
(24 months)
37 Nebraska July 4, 1867–July 3, 1877 10
(120 months)
38 Colorado July 4, 1877–July 3, 1890 13
(156 months)
43 Idaho, Montana, North Dakota,
South Dakota, Washington		 July 4, 1890–July 3, 1891 1
(12 months)
44 Wyoming July 4, 1891–July 3, 1896 5
(60 months)
45 Utah July 4, 1896–July 3, 1908 12
(144 months)
46 Oklahoma July 4, 1908–July 3, 1912 4
(48 months)
48 Arizona, New Mexico July 4, 1912–July 3, 1959 47
(564 months)
49 Alaska July 4, 1959–July 3, 1960 1
(12 months)
50 Hawaii July 4, 1960–Present 63
(766 months)

Future of the flag

Proposed design for a 51-star flag in the event of an additional state
See also: 51st state

The United States Army Institute of Heraldry has plans for flags with up to 56 stars, using a similar staggered star arrangement should additional states accede. Moreover, there are continuing political movements supporting statehood in Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

Non-standard flags

Guilford Court House Flag

A number of non-standard flags appeared in the early years of American independence. One example is the design approximated here, of a flag traditionally believed to have been carried by the American troops at the Battle of Guilford Court House in 1781. This is disputed by some other historians who think it dates to the nineteenth century. The original flag is at the North Carolina Historical Museum.

Similar flags

See also: Flags of the United States § Flags with similar designs

The flag of Liberia bears a close resemblance, showing the ex–American-slave origin of the country. The Liberian flag has similar red and white stripes, though only 11 of them, as well as a blue square for the union, but with only a single large white star.

The flag of Malaysia also has a striking resemblance, with red and white stripes (14 total), and a blue canton, but displaying instead of stars a star and crescent emblem.

Though more dissimilar in appearance, the flag of Cuba was also inspired by the flag of the United States. Its origins date from 1849, when Cuban liberation movements emerged among Cuban exiles in the U.S.[14]

Another flag similar to the flag of the United States is the flag of Puerto Rico. There are specific shades of red and blue for the construction of the flag, however there might be slight variations depending on the flag-flyer's political beliefs. The pro-independence groups use sky blue, while the pro-statehood groups use a darker shade of blue more similar to that of the U.S. flag.

See also

Article sections

Associated people

References

  • Allentown Art Museum. The American Flag in the Art of Our Country. Allentown Art Museum, 1976.
  • Herbert Ridgeway Collins. Threads of History: Americana Recorded on Cloth 1775 to the Present. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979.
  • Grace Rogers Cooper. Thirteen-star Flags: Keys to Identification. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1973.
  • David D. Crouthers. Flags of American History. Hammond, 1978.
  • Louise Lawrence Devine. The Story of Our Flag. Rand McNally, 1960.
  • William Rea Furlong, Byron McCandless, and Harold D. Langley. So Proudly We Hail: The History of the United States Flag. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981.
  • Scot M. Guenter, The American Flag, 1777-1924: Cultural Shifts from Creation to Codification. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. 1990. online
  • Marc Leepson, Flag: An American Biography. Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2005.
  • David Roger Manwaring. Render Unto Caesar: The Flag-Salute Controversy. University of Chicago Press, 1962.
  • Boleslaw Mastai and Marie-Louise D'Otrange Mastai. The Stars and the Stripes: The American Flag as Art and as History from the Birth of the Republic to the Present. Knopf, 1973.
  • Milo Milton Quaife. The Flag of the United States. 1942.
  • Milo Milton Quaife, Melvin J. Weig, and Roy Applebaum. The History of the United States Flag, from the Revolution to the Present, Including a Guide to Its Use and Display. Harper, 1961.
  • Albert M. Rosenblatt. "Flag Desecration Statutes: History and Analysis," Washington University Law Quarterly 1972: 193-237.
  • Leonard A. Stevens. Salute! The Case of The Bible vs. The Flag. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1973.

Notes

  1. ^ States are represented collectively; there is no meaning to particular stars nor stripes.
  2. ^ Coined by Captain William Driver, a nineteenth century shipmaster.
  3. ^ No relation to the Union Flag of the United Kingdom to which this term more commonly refers.
  4. ^ "What do the colors of the Flag mean?". USFlag.org: A website dedicated to the Flag of the United States of America. Retrieved June 14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "The United States Flag - Public and Intergovernmental Affairs". United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Retrieved December 7. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ United States Government (1861). Our Flag (PDF). Washington DC: United States Government Printing Office. S. Doc 105-013.
  7. ^ "A Proclamation by the President: Flag Day and National Flag Week, 2001". The White House. Retrieved December 7. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ a b Leepson, Marc. (2005). Flag: An American Biography. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 16.
  9. ^ The STRIPED FLAG of the EAST INDIA COMPANY, and its CONNEXION with the AMERICAN "STARS and STRIPES" at Flags of the World
  10. ^ East India Company (United Kingdom) at Flags of the World
  11. ^ Guenter (1990)
  12. ^ United States Government (1861). Our Flag (PDF). Washington DC: United States Government Printing Office. S. Doc 105-013.
  13. ^ (For alternate versions of the flag of the United States, see the Stars of the U.S. Flag page at the Flags of the World website.)
    Further information: [[:Territorial evolution of the United States]]
  14. ^ Cuba at Flags of the World

External links

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