Flag of the United States

I

Introduction

Flag of the United States, popularly called the American flag, the official national flag of the United States. It consists of 13 horizontal stripes, 7 red alternating with 6 white, and in the upper corner near the staff, a rectangular blue field, or canton, containing 50 five-pointed white stars. The stripes symbolize the 13 colonies that originally constituted the United States of America. The stars represent the 50 states of the Union. In the language of the Continental Congress, which defined the symbolic meanings of the colors red, white, and blue, as used in the flag, “White signifies Purity and Innocence; Red, Hardiness and Valor; and Blue, Vigilance, Perseverance and Justice.” Because of its stars, stripes, and colors, the American flag is frequently called the Star-Spangled Banner, the Stars and Stripes, or the Red, White, and Blue. Another popular, patriotic designation, Old Glory, is of uncertain origin.

II

Origins of the American Flag

Early flags designed for use in the American colonies reflected the European origin of the colonists. In the British colonies many flags were adaptations of the British Union Jack (see Flags, National). The colors red, white, and blue, which symbolized colonial unity, were first used in a flag in New England in 1737. The flag was blue with a white canton quartered by a red cross. In one upper quarter of the canton was a globe symbolizing the New World.

As relations with Great Britain became more strained, the colonists designed a large number of flags expressive of their political sentiments and ideals. A favorite emblematic device in the flags of the southern colonies was a rattlesnake, usually depicted as coiled and ready to strike and having 13 rattles. In South Carolina it was emblazoned on a yellow flag and was accompanied by the inscription “dont tread on me.” Another South Carolina colonial flag consisted of 13 horizontal stripes, 7 red alternating with 6 blue; a rattlesnake depicted with its forked tongue projecting extended diagonally across the flag toward the upper corner near the staff. A similar Virginia colonial flag differed from the latter South Carolina emblem in two respects: it contained 6 white instead of 6 blue stripes, and beneath the serpent was inscribed “dont tread on me.” Another Virginia flag was white and emblazoned with crossed swords and the motto “Liberty or Death.”

The idea of liberty appeared on many other flags besides that of Virginia. The word was inscribed on an otherwise plain red flag raised in New York by the Sons of Liberty, a secret patriotic organization, in defiance of a British regulation forbidding the display of any but the British flag. “Liberty” also formed the inscription of a Taunton, Massachusetts, flag consisting of a red field and a blue canton containing the British Union Jack.

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A favorite device in other colonial flags was the pine tree, called the liberty tree. In 1775 the minutemen bore a yellow flag with a pine tree on it. In New England the liberty tree device appeared on a yellow flag bearing the inscriptions “An Appeal to God” and “Dont Tread on Me.” The tree also appeared in the white canton of a red flag that, with other emblems, was borne by the Americans at the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775. The first known American colonial flag with stars was that displayed in 1775 by the armed schooner Lee. The flag of the Lee was white. Near its center was a blue anchor partially enclosed by a scroll, and above the anchor was inscribed the word “Hope.” In the upper corner of the flag was a blue canton containing 13 five-pointed stars.

To meet the growing need for a flag symbolic of its cause, the Continental Congress appointed a special committee in the latter part of 1775. The committee, which consisted of Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, the statesman Benjamin Harrison of Virginia, and the planter Thomas Lynch of South Carolina, conferred with George Washington and other revolutionary leaders. Because the political sentiment prevailing at that time among these leaders was opposed to separation from Great Britain and envisaged eventual reconciliation, the flag finally adopted signified the two dominant contemporary political ideas: colonial unity against oppression and continued union with Great Britain. The first idea was represented in the flag by 13 horizontal stripes, 7 red alternating with 6 white. The second idea was symbolized by including, in a blue canton at the top of the flag near the staff, the two crosses of the British Union Jack—the cross of St. George and the cross of St. Andrew. This flag, which may have been designed in detail by Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was raised for the first time at Charlestown, Massachusetts, on January 1, 1776. It was known as the Continental flag, or the Congress colors. In later times it came to be called the Grand Union, or Cambridge, flag.

III

Development of the American Flag

On June 14, 1777, Congress made the following resolution: “The flag of the United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, with a union of thirteen stars of white on a blue field ...” Official announcement of the new flag was not made until September 3, 1777. When it was first flown has not been determined. Historical research has failed to establish a factual foundation for the traditional story that the flagmaker Betsy Ross made the first American flag.

Because Congress had made no rule for the arrangement of the stars, they were displayed in different ways. The most usual arrangement was a circle. Occasionally the circle was made to consist of 12 stars with the 13th star forming the center of the circle. As new states joined the Union, they demanded representation in the stars and stripes of the flag. In 1795 Congress voted to increase to 15 the number of stars and stripes. Legislation enacted in 1818 reestablished the number of stripes at 13 and instituted the policy, “That on the admission of every new state into the Union, one star be added to the union of the flag ...”

At the time of the Mexican War in 1846, the American flag contained 29 stars. At the start of the American Civil War in 1861, the flag contained 34 stars, including those of the seceding states. By the time of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the flag contained 45 stars. From 1912 until 1959, the flag had 48 stars arranged in six rows of eight stars each. The 49th and 50th stars were added in 1959 and 1960, respectively, after Alaska and Hawaii were admitted to the Union. The 49 stars were arranged in seven rows; the 50 stars are arranged in nine rows of alternating lengths—five rows of six stars and four rows of five stars.

An executive order issued by President William Howard Taft on October 29, 1912, fixed the overall width and length of the U.S. flag, known technically as the hoist and fly, respectively, in the ratio of 1:1.9. The 13 stripes were fixed at equal width. The hoist of the blue field containing the stars was fixed at seven-thirteenths of the overall hoist, that is, as extending from the top of the flag to the bottom of the seventh stripe. The fly of the blue field was fixed at a tiny fraction over three-fourths of the overall hoist. The diameter of each star was established as a minute fraction under one-sixteenth of the overall hoist.

IV

Display of the American Flag

A joint resolution adopted by Congress in 1942 established a uniform code for display of the national flag. Included are the following rules.

The flag is usually displayed from sunrise to sunset in the open. It should be raised briskly and lowered ceremoniously. It is displayed daily, weather permitting, and especially on certain holidays, on or near the main administration buildings of all public institutions. It is also displayed in or near every polling place on election days and in or near every schoolhouse during school days.

When carried in processions with another flag, the U.S. flag is borne to the right of the other emblems carried by the marchers. When carried with several other flags, it may be borne in front of the center of the line formed by the other standards. No other flag or pennant should be placed above the U.S. flag. When displayed against a wall or in a window, the blue field should be uppermost and to the left of the observer. When displayed flat on a speaker's platform, the flag should be behind and above the head of the speaker.

A number of rules regulate the display of the flag at various public ceremonies and its display in connection with state and city flags and in churches. Other rules deal with the observance of proper respect for the American flag. The latter are supplemented in most of the states by laws prohibiting the use of the U.S. flag for advertising purposes. The armed services have detailed regulations for military and naval uses of the flag.

Rules also apply to folding the flag in ceremonial occasions and for storage. To properly fold the flag, two people hold each end and fold it in half lengthwise two times, so that the blue field appears on the outside. The person holding the striped side then makes triangular folds until only a triangle of the blue field shows.

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