Every year in the middle of June, poles are surveyed.
That’s because the nation recognizes Flag Day, commemorating the adoption of the flag of the United States, or Old Glory, on June 14, 1777, by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.
The Flag Resolution was passed, and stated: “Resolved, that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day and on Aug. 3, 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress. Flag Day is not an official federal holiday.
On June 14, 1937, Pennsylvania became the first state to celebrate Flag Day as a state holiday, and several other states, such as Washington, Massachusetts and New York, have held flag parades for decades.
Throughout grade school, several lessons were taught, telling students the story that credits Betsy Ross for sewing one of the first flags from a pencil sketch handed to her by George Washington. However, no such evidence exists either in George Washington’s diaries or the Continental Congress’ records.
By her family’s own admission, Ross ran an upholstery business, and she had never made a flag as of the supposed visit in June 1776. That being said, researchers accept that the first flag evolved, and did not have one design.
The current design of the U.S. flag is its 27th and the design has been modified officially 26 times since 1777.
The national flag of the United States consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton (referred to specifically as the “union”) bearing 50 small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows, where rows of six stars alternate with rows of five stars. The 50 stars on the flag represent the 50 U.S. states, and the 13 stripes represent the thirteen British colonies that declared independence from Great Britain and thus became the first states in the U.S.
Published June 14, 2023
