9 Amazing Facts About The American Flag!

From its origins to things that are on it that you might have missed join us as we explore amazing facts about the American flag! 9. It’s Gone Through Many Iterations When people think about the American flag, they either think of the first one that was made in 1777 to represent the 13 colonies, or, the flag we have now that has 50 stars and 13 stripes. Each of these versions is an important part of American history without a doubt, but there have been other versions of the flag besides these two. For example, for a of about 23 years, the American flag had a very different look than the other two. Mainly in that it had 15 stars and 15 stripes in order to honor the new states that had just been added to the fold via Vermont and Kentucky. Which is the most stripes the American flag has ever had in its history. But, by 1818, the United States was continuing to grow, and they realized that it would be easier to add more stars to the flag to honor the states than the stripes that would need to get ever thinner. Thus, they decreed that the flag would keep adding stars but would keep the stripes at 13 to honor the original colonies. Then, in 1958 a 17-year-old high school student, Robert G. Heft, of Lancaster, Ohio won a contest to design the new and final design of the American flag. It features the 50 stars and 13 stripes that are now seen all over. So special was this contest that President Dwight D. Eisenhower was the one to pick it out. It may seem kind of odd that the flag has had so many version over the years, but a great way to think about it is that this isn’t just a flag, it’s a representation of a country, a country that has grown mighty big since the original 13 colonies. So to have that flag evolve with the nation truly represents the nation itself. And that is something to be mighty fond of. Oh, and in case you were curious, in total, there have been 27 different forms of the American flag since 1777. 8. A Native American Helped Get The Flag Finalized I bet that’s a story they didn’t teach you in school, huh? There are many different legends about how the American flag got made, and we’ll be talking about a certain leading lady soon enough. But in the year 1777, the Congress of the newly formed nation of America was still unclear of what the flag should look like. As they knew that such a flag needed to be a symbol of not just the nation, but their people. Because of that, they were throwing out all kinds of ideas despite a war going on and their people REALLY needing a symbol. Enter a man named Thomas Green, while that name might not sound irregular, it was one that belonged to a Native American. Who if you recall weren’t exactly the most popular among the colonists for reasons I’ll have to discuss on another list. But needless to say, Green was no fool, he knew that going through certain parts of the new country would be dangerous if he couldn’t prove that he was an ally to the nation. So, he wrote a letter to Congress and besieged them to finalize a flag design so he could carry it on his way to Philadelphia and thus not be harmed. To help “persuade“ the Congress to do so, he offered “Three Strings of Wampum“. Whether the Congress actually got those strings or not is a bit irrelevant. Because that letter got them off their bickering butts and to the table to finalize the design that we now know as the colony flag. Which just goes to show that then, and even now, a pen and paper can solve more problems than a blade and a firearm. I’m just saying. Though you do have to would’ve happened if Thomas Green never sent that letter? How much longer would they have debated about flag design? Thankfully, we’ll never know. 7. Betsy Ross Didn’t Make the Flag? I teased this one last entry, but when you think about all the stories of how the American flag came to be in terms of design and who made it, the name Betsy Ross comes to mind. According to the legends, not only did she make the first American flag, which is also known as the Betsy Ross Flag to some, but she made flags for various people in America, including the Navy, for over fifty years. She even talked with soon-to-be President George Washington about the design of the flag to try and persuade him to do 5-pointed stars instead of 6-pointed stars because they were easier to make and cut. But here is the rub... ...there’s actually no documentation or definitive evidence that any of that is , at all. Meaning, that we don’t have proof that Betsy Ross made the first American flag that we all know and cherish. To be clear, there’s little doubt that she made flags for most of her adult life, that was proven in its own way, including her own job history.