This flag, which we honor and under which we serve, is the emblem
of our unity, our power, our thought and purpose as a nation. It has
no other character than that which we give it from generation to
generation.”
-Woodrow Wilson, 1917
Some of the significant historical points of interest about the United States flag:
• 1776 (January 1): The Grand Union flag is displayed on Prospect Hill. It had 13 alternate red and white
stripes and the British Union Jack in the upper left-hand corner (the canton).
• 1776: Betsy Ross reported that she sewed the first American flag.
• 1777 (June 14): Continental Congress adopted the following: Resolved: 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. (stars represent Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut,
Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode
Island).
• 1787: Captain Robert Gray carried the flag around the world on his sailing vessel (around the tip of
South America, to China, and beyond). He discovered the Columbia river and named it after his boat The
Columbia. His discovery was the basis of America’s claim to the Oregon Territory.
• 1795: Flag with 15 stars and 15 stripes (Vermont, Kentucky).
• 1814 (September 14): Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner”. It officially became the
national anthem in 1931.
• 1818: Flag with 20 stars and 13 stripes (it remained at 13 after this) (Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana,
Indiana, Mississippi) Act of April 4, 1818; provided for 13 stripes and one star for each state, to be added to
the flag on the 4th of July following the admission of each new state.
• 1819: Flag with 21 stars (Illinois).
• 1820: Flag with 23 stars (Alabama, Maine); first flag on Pikes Peak.
• 1822: Flag with 24 stars (Missouri).
• 1836: Flag with 25 stars (Arkansas).
• 1837: Flag with 26 stars (Michigan).
• 1845: Flag with 27 stars (Florida).
• 1846: Flag with 28 stars (Texas).
• 1847: Flag with 29 stars (Iowa).
• 1848: Flag with 30 stars (Wisconsin).
• 1851: Flag with 31 stars (California).
• 1858: Flag with 32 stars (Minnesota).
• 1859: Flag with 33 stars (Oregon).
• 1861: Flag with 34 stars; (Kansas); first Confederate Flag (Stars and Bars) adopted in Montgomery,
Alabama.
• 1863: Flag with 35 stars (West Virginia).
• 1865: Flag with 36 stars (Nevada).
• 1867: Flag with 37 stars (Nebraska).
• 1877: Flag with 38 stars (Colorado).
• 1890: Flag with 43 stars (North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho).
• 1891: Flag with 44 stars (Wyoming).
• 1892: “Pledge of Allegiance” first published in a magazine called The Youth’s Companion. Authorship
was claimed for James B. Upham and Francis Bellamy. In 1939 the United States Flag Association ruled that
Bellamy was the author of the original pledge. The words, “under God” were added on June 14, 1954. The
pledge: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands,
one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
• 1896: Flag with 45 stars (Utah).
• 1908: Flag with 46 stars (Oklahoma).
• 1909: Robert Peary places the flag his wife sewed at the North Pole.
• 1912: Flag with 48 stars (New Mexico, Arizona) Executive Order of President Taft dated June 24, 1912;
established proportions of the flag and provided for arrangement of the stars in six horizontal rows of eight
each, a single point of each star to be upward.
• 1931: Congress officially recognizes “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the national anthem of the United
States. Its stirring words were written by Francis Scott Key.
• 1945: The flag that flew over Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was flown over the White House on
August 14, when the Japanese accepted surrender terms.
• 1949 (August 3): President Harry Truman signed a bill requesting the President call for Flag Day (June
14) observance each year by proclamation.
• 1959: Flag with 49 stars (Alaska) Executive Order of President Dwight Eisenhower dated January 3,
1959; provided for the arrangement of the stars in seven rows of seven stars each, staggered horizontally and
vertically. Executive Order of President Eisenhower dated August 21, 1959; provided for the arrangement of
the stars in nine rows of stars staggered horizontally and eleven rows of stars staggered vertically.
• 1960: Flag with 50 stars (Hawaii).
• 1963: Flag placed on top of Mount Everest by Barry Bishop.
• 1969 (July 20): The American flag was placed on the moon by Neil Armstrong
