AMERICAN FLAG FACTS

US flag has 50 stars representing the 50 states, and 13 stripes representing the 13 original states.

Earlier flags had a British Union Jack or the motto "Don't Tread on Me,". The first flag approved by the Continental Congress had thirteen stars on a field of blue and thirteen stripes.

The credit for designing the first flag perhaps goes to Francis Hopkins.

The Continental Congress approved the design of the first official U.S. flag on June 14, 1777. This day later came to be celebrated as the Flag Day.

The official colors of the flag are "Old Glory Red," white, and "Old Glory Blue."

On June 14, 1777, Congress adopted a resolution calling for a flag with thirteen stripes, alternating red and white, and with a blue canton or "union", with thirteen white stars. The resolution defined the significance of the colors: "White signifies Purity and the Innocence; Red, Hardiness and Valor; Blue, Vigilance, Perseverance and Justice."

The thirteen stripes and thirteen stars are representative of the original thirteen colonies. The five pointed stars used as a flag symbol gained popularity only after its incorporation into the American flag. Since then it has been used in many state flags and in foreign flags, including Uruguay, Puerto Rico, and the once sovereign nations of the Republic of Texas and the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Until 1818, an additional star and stripe was added as each new state was admitted to the Union. However it later became evident that it was not at all practical as the flag would inevitably become unwieldy. On April 4, 1816, a new scheme was made official. The Flag of the United States would have thirteen stripes, alternating red and white, and a blue canton on which a white star would be added for each state. Each star would be added to the flag on the July 4th following the admission of the new state to the Union.

In 1912, the government specified official patterns, proportions and colors, for the Flag we know today.

Traditionally a symbol of liberty, the American flag has carried the message of freedom to many parts of the world. Sometimes the same flag that was flying at a crucial moment in America's history has been flown again in another place to symbolize continuity in the struggles for the cause of liberty.

The American flag first flew over Fort Derne, off the shores of Tripoli in Libya.