History
A nation’s flag represents the history of its people and their journey in becoming a great country. The American flag is no different.
Nobody can pinpoint who exactly designed the Stars and Stripes. While some say it was Congressman Francis Hopkins others stick to the more accepted fact that it was Betsy Ross, a seamstress from Philadelphia. Either way the design at that time is far from the design we see today.
Over the years the American flag has been redesigned by numerous patriots in an attempt to capture the history and vision of the United States. It was not until June 24, 1912, that the American flag’s proportions were standardized. Before that, flags showed varying patterns of stars with unusual proportions.
It took several acts throughout history to arrive at the flag we see today. In 1777, the First Flag Act established 13 red and white stripes and 13 white stars set on a blue background. Come January 1794, the 13stars and stripes become 15. By 1818, we see a design similar to what we see now with 13 stripes and one star for each state. When President Taft came into office, he decreed a new layout wherein the stars would be arranged in 7 rows of 7 stars each. Finally, in August 1959, Eisenhower made more changes making the stars into nine rows horizontally and 11 rows vertically. Today, we see a flag compromise of 50 stars and 13 stripes.
As you can see, the American flag’s evolution and layout have changed numerous times throughout the years. Now, we see a flag that represents the original 13 colonies in stripes and 50 stars to represent the states that now make up the great nation of today.