Flag of the United States
The 13 red and white stripes are the 13 original colonies and the 50 white stars on blue are the 50 states, one star for each, as the US flag law and the House of Representatives’ history of the flag explain. No law gives the colours a meaning: the reading of white for purity, red for valour and blue for justice comes from Charles Thomson’s 1782 explanation of the Great Seal, not from any law about the flag.
Easily confused with
- Flag of LiberiaLiberia’s flag has eleven horizontal stripes, six red and five white, and a blue field in the top corner by the pole with one white star. Liberia’s government says each stripe stands for one of the eleven signers of its Declaration of Independence and the star for Liberia as the only independent state in Africa at the time; red is for the blood of those who died for independence, white for purity of mind and blue for the African continent.
- Flag of MalaysiaMalaysia’s flag, the Jalur Gemilang (“glorious stripes”), has fourteen red and white stripes and a dark blue canton with a yellow crescent and a yellow fourteen-pointed star. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s library gives the meanings: the stripes and the star’s points for the thirteen states and the federal government, blue for the unity of Malaysians, yellow for the royal colour of the Malay rulers, and the crescent for Islam, the official religion.
How to read it
The flag law, 4 U.S.C. § 1 (July 30, 1947), says the flag “shall be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; and the union of the flag shall be forty-eight stars, white in a blue field.” Section 2 adds one star for each new state, taking effect on the Fourth of July after it joins, which is how the 49th and 50th stars came without the 1947 wording changing. Executive Order 10834, signed by President Eisenhower on August 21, 1959, sets the arrangement of the stars and the proportions: the flag is 1.9 times as long as it is high, the blue union covers seven of the thirteen stripes (7/13 of the height) and runs 0.76 of the height along the top, and each star is 0.0616 of the height across. The 50-star flag became the official flag on July 4, 1960, after Hawaii joined, and was first raised at 12:01 a.m. that day at Fort McHenry in Baltimore. How it is flown is set by the Flag Code: see the half-staff flag and the upside-down flag.
Also searched as: american flag, american flag meaning, flag of the united states, how many stars are on the american flag, stars and stripes, united states flag, united states flag meaning, usa flag, us flag, what do the colors of the american flag mean.
What do the colors of the American flag mean?
No law gives them a meaning. The Continental Congress’s flag resolution of June 14, 1777 and today’s flag law name red, white and blue and say nothing about what they stand for.
The meanings usually quoted come from the Great Seal. Charles Thomson’s “Remarks and Explanation” of the seal, adopted by Congress on June 20, 1782, says the colours of the stripes on the seal’s shield “are those used in the flag of the United States of America” and goes on: “White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valour, and Blue, the colour of the Chief signifies vigilance, perseverance & justice.” The chief is the blue band across the top of the seal’s shield. The State Department’s history of the seal prints the passage in full.
Why does the flag have 13 stripes?
They stand for the thirteen colonies. The 1777 resolution gave the flag thirteen stripes and thirteen stars, “representing a new constellation”. When Vermont and Kentucky joined, a resolution of January 1794 made it 15 stars and 15 stripes, and that flag flew from 1795 to 1818. Captain Samuel C. Reid of the Navy then suggested keeping the stripes at 13 for the Thirteen Colonies and adding only a star for each new state, and President Monroe signed a law doing so on April 4, 1818.
Who made the American flag?
Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, is the likeliest answer: the House of Representatives’ history “Our Flag” says strong evidence shows he was responsible for the stars; he asked for “a Quarter Cask of the public Wine” as his reward and was turned down. The State Department’s history of the Great Seal also calls him the designer of the flag.
The story that Betsy Ross made the first flag was first made public in 1870 by her grandson William J. Canby. She made flags for 50 years, including for the Pennsylvania State Navy in 1777, but “Our Flag” says there is no proof she made the first Stars and Stripes, and the circle-of-stars “Betsy Ross flag” did not appear until the early 1790s.
Where this symbol came from
oldsymbols.comBetsy Ross flagA version of the first Stars and Stripes: thirteen red and white stripes and thirteen white stars in a circle on blue, named after the Philadelphia flag maker Betsy Ross. The story that she sewed the first flag in 1776 was first made public by her grandson in 1870, and no record from the time confirms it. oldsymbols.comBennington flagA flag of thirteen stripes, white at the top and bottom, with “76” under an arch of stars in the blue canton, long said to have flown at the Battle of Bennington in 1777. The Bennington Museum, which owns it, dates it to between 1812 and 1830, because it is made entirely of cotton. oldsymbols.comSerapis flagThe ensign John Paul Jones flew on the captured British warship Serapis at Texel in the Dutch Republic in 1779, with stripes of red, white and blue and thirteen eight-pointed stars on blue. It was made to the description Benjamin Franklin and John Adams had given of the American flag, and the Dutch recorded it in a sketch.Read next
- Next in North and Central American flagsFlag of CanadaA red flag with a white square in the middle holding a red 11-point maple leaf, the leaf that has stood for Canadian identity since the 19th century, the Canadian government says. Red and white are not national colours in law, Canadian Heritage says, though many Canadians see in them the white of winter snow and the red of autumn maple leaves.
- The same shape in African flagsFlag of AngolaAngola’s flag is red over black with a yellow emblem in the centre: part of a cogwheel, a machete and a five-pointed star. Its constitution says the red is the blood shed by Angolans under colonial oppression, in the liberation struggle and in defence of the country, and the black is the African continent; the cogwheel stands for workers and industry, the machete for peasants, farming and the armed struggle, the star for international solidarity and progress, and their yellow for the country’s wealth.
More north and Central American flags
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines, squares and rectangles or stars.
Sources
- 4 U.S. Code § 1 - Flag; stripes and stars on, 4 U.S.C. § 1, with Executive Order 10834 in the notes, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, § 1; notes, Ex. Ord. No. 10834 and attachment
- 4 U.S. Code § 2 - Same; additional stars, 4 U.S.C. § 2, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, § 2
- The Great Seal of the United States, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, The Great Seal of the United States (2003), U.S. Department of State, pp. 1–2 (second committee); p. 4, Thomson’s “Remarks and Explanation”
- Our Flag (H. Doc. 100-247), House Document 100-247, Our Flag: “The History of the Stars and Stripes”, U.S. House of Representatives (via NPS History), The History of the Stars and Stripes; An Early Stars and Stripes; Fifteen Stars and Stripes
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 13, 2026. How we research
Added .