How Was the Flag Made?
The design of our flag was outlined in a congressional resolution passed on June 14, 1777, which stated “that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing the new constellation.” After Vermont and Kentucky had been admitted to the Union, Congress made a decree in 1794 that after May 1, 1795, “the flag of the United States be fifteen stripes alternate red and white and that the Union be fifteen stars white on a blue field.” This made the stars and stripes again equal and it was the plan to add a new stripe and a new star for each new state admitted to the Union. Very soon, however, it was realized that the flag would be too large if we kept on adding one stripe for each new state admitted to the Union, so on April 4, 1818, Congress passed a resolution reducing the number of stripes to thirteen once more to represent the original colonies, and to add only a new star to the field when a new state was admitted to the Union. At this time there were twenty states in the Union. Since that time none of the flags of the United States have more than thirteen stripes while a new star has been added for each state until now we have forty-eight stars, representing the forty-eight states.