{"id":464,"date":"2018-06-18T04:00:29","date_gmt":"2018-06-18T04:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/?p=464"},"modified":"2018-06-19T00:14:16","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T00:14:16","slug":"the-stars-and-stripes-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/the-stars-and-stripes-forever\/","title":{"rendered":"The Stars and Stripes Forever"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is arguably overdue in that it might have made sense to address some of the history and origins of the United States flag before tackling the more obscure of the French Overseas Territories for example, but things happened the way they did due to the interference of the husband’s obsession with the Broadway musical Book of Mormon which caused him to start with flying the flags of Norway<\/a> and Uganda<\/a>, but readers of this blog are familiar with all of that.<\/p>\n

The flag at the top of the flagpole is, of course, that of the United States and it will remain flying for a long time as we explore the individual states that make up the United States for the flag of the country always takes precedence and the top position on a two flag flagpole.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Flags of the United States and Delaware<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The exact origins of the first flag of the United States are uncertain despite the persistent belief in the potentially mythical Betsy Ross<\/a>.\u00a0 Originally, in 1776, the Continental Congress<\/a> declined to endorse or specify a flag for the new nation of the United States.\u00a0 The Navy used a design<\/p>\n

\"\"
Early Naval Flag of the United States<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

that was potentially based on the flag of the British East India Company<\/a>,<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

although this is disputed, and it was this design that came to be the basis for the official flag that would follow.<\/p>\n

On June 14, 1777, the day now known as Flag Day<\/a>, the Continental Congress passed a resolution which stated that: “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.”<\/p>\n

It is important to note what this resolution does not specify.\u00a0 It does not indicate whether there are 7 red stripes and 6 white, or vice versa.\u00a0 It does not indicate the arrangement of the stars nor does it specify the design or type of star to be portrayed.\u00a0 This led to a great deal of leeway in how early flags were designed and sewn, each valid as there was no standard against which to evaluate different designs.<\/p>\n

It is now accepted that Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey<\/a>, a naval flag designer, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence<\/a>, designed the 1777 flag.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Hopkinson Flag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is important to note that the Hopkinson flag does NOT arrange the 13 stars into a circle, which is the design most commonly associated in modern times with the original flag.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Betsy Ross Variant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Such a design quite possibly existed as the arrangement of the stars would not be codified for decades to come and certainly some flag designs did arrange the stars into a circle but also in more fanciful designs<\/p>\n

\"\"
1847 Design<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
1837 Flag Design<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

as well including stars arranged in the shape of a star.<\/p>\n

\"\"
1859 Design<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is absolutely no evidence that Betsy Ross sewed the first, or any, early flag.\u00a0 In fact, the myth was not even created or publicized until almost a century later when Ross’s grandson, William Canby, suggested the story in 1870.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 1795, in direct contradiction of the 1777 resolution, the design of the flag was changed to include 15 stripes and 15 stars to represent the two new states joining the Union, Vermont<\/a> and Kentucky<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Star Spangled Banner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This 15 stripe and 15 star flag was the flag designated as the “Star Spangled Banner” as it was the official flag at the time that Francis Scott Key wrote what would become the National Anthem of the United States<\/a>.\u00a0 As new states entered the Union no additional stars or stripes were added, probably because it was felt that the flag would become too cluttered if this pattern were to continue.<\/p>\n

In 1818 Congress passed a plan which would come to be known as the Flag Act of 1818<\/a>.\u00a0 This act established many of the characteristics of the flag we know today.\u00a0 The flag of the day was changed to include 20 stars, one for each of the states then admitted to the Union but the number of stripes was reduced to 13 to honor the original 13 colonies.\u00a0 The Act also specified that new versions of the flag would become official on the first 4 July following the admission of new states.<\/p>\n

It would not be until 1912, with the adoption of the 48 star flag, that the arrangement of the stars in the blue field would be standardized into the staggered arrangement of nine rows with every other row having five or six stars.<\/p>\n

For a flag as well known and recognizable as the flag of the United States is in today’s world, it seems surprising to me that the official design specifications were so long in coming.<\/p>\n

Of course there is much more detail to the overall story and for those details I would refer interested readers to this more comprehensive treatment of the subject<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our next series of entries will focus on the flags of the 50 states memorialized by the 50 stars on the modern flag, so stay tuned as we start with the First State, Delaware.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1818 Congress passed a plan which would come to be known as the Flag Act of 1818.\u00a0 This act established many of the characteristics of the flag we know today.\u00a0 The flag of the day was changed to include 20 stars, one for each of the states then admitted to the Union but the number of stripes was reduced to 13 to honor the original 13 colonies.\u00a0 The Act also specified that new versions of the flag would become official on the first 4 July following the admission of new states.
\nIt would not be until 1912, with the adoption of the 48 star flag, that the arrangement of the stars in the blue field would be standardized into the staggered arrangement of nine rows with every other row having five or six stars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5,41,40],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}