06/15/2026
Happy Flag Day! 🇺🇸 https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GRJ6B8FR6/
The American flag has been redesigned 27 times since 1777. A new version was required almost every time a state joined the union.
The first flag law, passed June 14, 1777 -- Flag Day -- set 13 stars and 13 alternating red and white stripes. Congress didn't specify how the stars should be arranged, so early flags varied. When states started joining faster, the stripe system failed. The 1818 law locked the stripes at 13 and shifted all future changes to the star field.
Each new design became official on the Fourth of July following a state's admission. The 49-star flag flew for less than a year, from July 4, 1959 (Alaska) to July 3, 1960 (Hawaii). The current 50-star flag was designed by a 17-year-old student for a school project. It has been unchanged since 1960 -- the longest-running design in American history.
Follow Wonders Untold for more of the real American flag history.
