Tuesday, June 14 is Flag Day across the country. The flag we all honor today is 55 years and 11 months old. The flag used today was designed once Hawaii became the 50th state in 1960. {{more:[Full Story]}}The previous one had lasted only one year prompted by the admission of Alaska as the 49th state, before that it had been 47 years since it had been changed ? July 4, 1912 with the admittance of Arizona and New Mexico.
The Grand Union Flag used early in Revolutionary War
The first official flag of the United States was not adopted until June 14, 1777 by the then Second Continental Congress, two years after fighting had commenced at Lexington. Congress did not specify a detailed design but the red, white and blue color scheme along with stars that represented the states and 13 stripes to represent the 13 original colonies became the rule.
One flag many variations …Officially there have been only 27th different flags, but over the years, there have been 42 variations using that basic scheme.
The first adopted flag had 4 variations. Two had stars in a crossing pattern with one using 13 six-pointed stars and another with 13 five-pointed stars. Then there were two more in the ?Betsy Ross? format that had stars in a circle pattern, one with 13 stars in a circle and another with 12 stars in a circle with the 13th star in the middle of the circle.
A Betsy Ross version with stars in circle
This multiple version continued off and on until July 4, 1891 when one version was adopted showing 43 five-pointed stars. The occasion was the admittance of the states of Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Washington. Since then, there has only been one accepted design that changed only as a new state was added. President Taft cemented that with an executive order that decreed the flag proportions and the arrangement of the stars in 1912.a quarter cask of the public wine …
The best claim to the first official design goes to Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, who had earlier designed a flag with similar design for the U.S. Navy which had 13 six-pointed stars on it along with 6 red stripes on a white background. There are some records to bolster his claim that are listed in the Journals of the Continental Congress. In one he simply asked for payment for his design in a ?Quarter Cask of the Public Wine.? Unfortunately for Betsy Ross, there is no official record of Ross being the first designer of the American flag other than family stories passed down.
Nicknames …Nicknames for the flag include The Star Spangled Banner, Stars and Stripes, The American Flag, Old Glory and the Red, White and Blue.
International fame and recognition …The American flag certainly had meaning as a representation of the fledgling country during and after the Revolutionary War and it took on a greater significance after the country was reunited at the end of the American Civil War. But, it wasn?t until the 1900?s or what is called the American Century, that the flag took an international recognition as a symbol of power and prestige, reserved for only the greatest and/or most powerful nations of the world.
It is arguably the most recognized flag today of any nation around the world.Flag info links:
