The Red, White, and Blue: A Quick History of the U.S. Flag

The United States flag was adopted in 1777 with 13 red-and-white stripes and a blue field of stars, colors that have remained constant even as states joined the union. Although the 1777 resolution didn’t assign color meanings, Charles Thomson later linked red to valor, white to purity, and blue to vigilance, perseverance, and justice. The flag’s design briefly featured 15 stars and 15 stripes in the 1790s, then the 1818 Act fixed 13 stripes and allowed the star field to grow with new states, until Hawaii’s 1960 admission produced the current 50-star, 13-stripe flag.