American Flag Has 247 Years Of History

By Tom Emery

Happy Birthday, Old Glory. 247 never looked so good.

This year marks the 247th anniversary of the establishment of the official American flag, which was created by an act of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777. The admission of new states, and a surprisingly vague design pattern of the flag, have led to numerous changes since.

Exactly when the Stars and Stripes was created is a matter of debate, but one thing is clear – it is highly unlikely that Betsy Ross had anything to do with it. According to the legend, Ross, a Philadelphia seamstress, was approached by a committee headed by George Washington to create a new banner for the colonies. She allegedly came up with the familiar blue background that envelopes the stars, then only thirteen, or one for each colony.

One of her grandsons went public with the story in 1870, and it quickly became part of American lore. However, many scholars have disputed the legend, citing a lack of historical record of any contact between Ross and Washington.

Some credit Francis Hopkinson, a New Jersey congressman and signer of the Declaration of Independence who had designed a naval flag, with the design of the Stars and Stripes. In 1781, Hopkinson claimed credit and requested reimbursement from Congress, to no avail.

Many historians believe the first American flag was the “Grand Union,” which had the familiar alternating thirteen horizontal red-and-white stripes with a blue canton containing the united crosses of St. George and St. Andrew. This flag was a takeoff on the British Meteor flag.

Some accounts believe this flag was first used when Washington assumed command of the Continental Army. Washington wrote that “we hoisted the Union Flag in compliment to the United Colonies.” The flag was also displayed by American defenders at Fort Schuyler, N.Y. in August 1777.

Still another writer notes that the first use of the Stars and Stripes was at the battle of Bennington, Vt. on Aug. 16, 1777. This “Bennington Flag” had nine stripes and eleven stars, which surrounded the numbers “76.” Two more stars were on the top corners of the blue field.

Adding to the debate is a flag that hangs on display in the public library in Easton, Pa. that has thirteen red-and-white stripes and thirteen stars in the blue field. First flown on July 8, 1776, various scholars believe the flag at Easton was the first Stars and Stripes.

Not all of the early flags bore strong resemblances to “Old Glory” of today. During the earliest action of the Revolution, a group of Massachusetts minutemen at the battle of Concord on April 19, 1775 reportedly flew a flag with a red field containing a silver arm and sword.

The red-and-white stripes may date as far back as 1765, when the Sons of Liberty used a flag with nine stripes during a meeting in New York to protest the Stamp Act. A decade later, their flag had increased to thirteen stripes, adorned with a rattlesnake.

Finally, the Continental Congress made it official in 1777 with the first Flag Act. It read “that the flag of the United States should be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

The common thirteen-stripe design, though, was not always used. When Vermont and Kentucky were admitted to the Union in 1795 to give the young nation fifteen states, Congress, accordingly, ordered that a new flag have fifteen stars and stripes.

As more states were admitted, it became clear that the flag would have too many stripes. On April 4, 1818, Congress declared that the flag would be limited to thirteen stripes, one for each of the original colonies, with one star in the blue field for each state.

Interestingly, no official provision was made for the proportions of the American flag. As a result, flags of the late 1700s and 1800s sometimes showed odd arrangements of stars. On June 24, 1912, President William Howard Taft signed an Executive Order calling for proportions of the flag and proper arrangement of stars in six horizontal rows of eight each, with a single point of each star directed upward.

With the admission of Alaska and Hawaii in 1959, President Dwight David Eisenhower twice signed orders for revised arrangements to accommodate the two additional stars.

The anniversary of the official designation of the American flag is marked every June 14 as Flag Day. The holiday’s origins are credited to the efforts of B.J. Cigrand, a nineteen-year-old Wisconsin schoolteacher, in 1885.

On May 30, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the official establishment of Flag Day, which was variously celebrated around the nation. In 1949, President Harry Truman signed a Congressional Act that named June 14 as the National Flag Day.

Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Ill. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or [email protected].