Monday, July 4, 2011

The American Flag--Did You Know?

 betsy
There is no proof who actually designed the original flag.  Some think that George Washington designed the flag, originally with 6 pointed stars. Betsy Ross, the seamstress told him that 5 sided stars would take less time to sew, therefore making it cheaper for him.  There are anecdotal stories that Betsy Ross designed and sewed the first flag, but there is no evidence that she actually had any thing to do with it.

There are 13 stripes for the 13 original colonies. The white on the flag signifies purity and innocence. The red, for hardiness and courage, and the blue for perseverance and determination. When you weave them together, you get the American Flag, symbol for equality and freedom.

There are no specified sizes ("dimensions") for the US flag, but Executive Order 10834 does specify the official proportions of the flag elements based on the hoist length being the base unit and everything else related to that unit. For example, the height of each stripe is 1/13 th of the hoist length, whatever that may be. The Order also specifies the eleven sizes of flags the executive branch agencies are authorized to buy.

The original flag had 12 stars. It now has 50.  On the original flag the stars are in a circle. Now they are in rows.

20 Star Flag


The 1818 flag was designed by a black man that the government will not name.
 50 Star Flag
The white stars on the American flag symbolize the individual states. There is one star for each state in the union. There are currently 50, for the fifty states in the union. Whenever a new state joins, a new star is added to the flag on the following 4th of July. The last time that happened was on July 4, 1960; Hawaii having become a state in the latter part of 1959.















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