Story of the Stars and Stripes

The American Flag has gone through many changes since the days of General George Washington who later became the President of the United States.
Our flag went through different changes as our country went through wars and the developments of a new nation.

When our nation gained thirteen colonies the people felt that there should be a national flag to show their pride of unity and their new freedom.

Our flag colors were chosen red white and blue because in the 1700's General Washington still had contact with King George and they had great respect for the Mother Country. Also thirteen stripes of red and white would be added to represent each of the thirteen colonies. The colors of red, white, and blue each has a signifiant meaning. The color of red represented hardiness and valor, the color of white represented purity and innocence, the color blue represented justice.

From the 1700's until the 1900's our flag continued to change, but in the year of 1912 an order from President Taft stated the proportions of the flag which gave the arrangement of the stars with six horizontal rows of eight each in a single point of each star to be upward.

In the year of 1959 President Eisenhower gave an order that stated the stars should be arranged in nine rows and staggered horizontally and eleven rows of star staggered vertically. Back to top