| No one knows
with absolute certainty who designed the first stars and stripes or
who made it. Congressman
Francis Hopkinson seems most likely to have designed it, and few
historians believe that Betsy Ross, a
Philadelphia seamstress, made the first one.
Until the Executive Order of June 24,
1912, neither the order of the stars nor the proportions of the flag was
prescribed. Consequently, flags dating before this period sometimes show
unusual arrangements of the stars and odd proportions, these features
being left to the discretion of the flag maker. In general, however,
straight rows of stars and proportions similar to those later adopted
officially were used. The principal acts affecting the flag of the United
States are the following:
- On June 14, 1777, in order to establish
an official flag for the new nation, the Continental Congress passed the
first Flag Act: "Resolved, That the flag of the United States be
made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be
thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new
Constellation."
- Act of January 13, 1794 - provided for
15 stripes and 15 stars after May 1795.
- Act of April 4, 1818 - provided for 13
stripes and one star for each state, to be added to the flag on the 4th
of July following the admission of each new state, signed by President
Monroe.
- Executive Order of President Taft dated
June 24, 1912 - established proportions of the flag and provided for
arrangement of the stars in six horizontal rows of eight each, a single
point of each star to be upward.
- Executive Order of President Eisenhower
dated January 3, 1959 - provided for the arrangement of the stars in
seven rows of seven stars each, staggered horizontally and vertically.
- Executive Order of President Eisenhower
dated August 21, 1959 - provided for the arrangement of the stars in
nine rows of stars staggered horizon tally and eleven rows of stars
staggered vertically.
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