06/01/2019
Did you know that there was no official design for the stars on the American flag until 1912?
On June 14, 1777, the date that Flag Day commemorates, the Second Continental Congress issued the Flag Resolution of 1777 to establish an official flag for the United Sates. The act stipulated 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.” However, the Continental Congress gave no specifications on the arrangement or shape of the stars. Although Betsy Ross’ pattern of the thirteen five-pointed stars arranged in a circle was certainly a very popular design of the time, there were many other patterns that were also produced that fit within the guidelines of the resolution. No one design became the sanctioned standard for the country. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries, the pattern of the stars continued to change along with their number, size, and shape. It was not until President Taft’s executive order in 1912 when the American flag became officially standardized with thirteen stripes with 48 stars positioned into six horizontal rows of eights, with each star pointing upward. This design would of course slightly change again in 1959 and 1960 when the pattern was altered to include two new stars to represent the states of Alaska and Hawaii.
The evolution of the American flag can also be exemplified by Frederick’s famous citizen, Francis Scott Key. The American flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the “Star Spangled-Banner” was the flag of 1795, which incorporated fifteen stripes and fifteen stars, which were arranged in off-set rows. This was the only flag that ever included fifteen stripes.
Pictured: WWI Bond Poster from the Heritage Frederick Collection.
