United States Flag |
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Names | The American flag, The Stars and Stripes; Red, White and Blue; Old Glory; The Star-Spangled Banner |
Use | National flag and ensign |
Proportion | 10:19 |
Adopted | June 14, 1777 (original 13-star version) July 4, 1960 (current 50-star version) |
Design | Thirteen horizontal stripes alternating red and white; in the canton, 50 white stars of alternating numbers of six and five per row on a blue field |
The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the American flag, consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton (referred to specifically as the “union”) bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternating with rows of five stars.
The 50 stars on the flag represent the 50 states of the United States of America and the 13 stripes represent the thirteen British colonies that declared independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain and became the first states in the Union.