What is the history behind the United States flag?

The history of the United States flag dates back to the mid to late 1700's. The first Flag Act was established on June 14, 1777. The purpose of the Flag Act was to ascertain an official flag for the new nation with thirteen stripes in alternating red and white and thirteen white stars in a blue field.

In January of 1794 and April of 1818 two additional Flag Acts were passed. The first in 1794 provided for 15 stripes and 15 stars and the second provided for a total of 13 stripes and 1 star for each state. Each star was to be added to the flag every July 4^th subsequent to each new state's admission. The proportions of the flag, meaning the arrangement of the stars and stripes, were established in three Executive Orders of Presidents Taft and then Eisenhower.

It has been stated that Congressman Francis Hopkinson designed the United States flag but no one knows with total confidence whether or not that's true. Betsy Ross, a Philadelphia seamstress, is proclaimed by some historians to be the first to have actually made the US flag.

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