The Stars and Stripes became the U.S. flag

On June 14, 1777, in the thick of the American Revolution, the Second Continental Congress passed a short, momentous resolution. The flag of the new nation, it declared, would carry thirteen alternating red and white stripes and thirteen white stars on a blue field, “representing a new Constellation.”

The design grew out of the earlier Grand Union flag carried by the Continental Army, but the stars were new, one for each of the thirteen states then in rebellion against Britain.

The resolution said nothing about how the stars should be arranged, so early flagmakers placed them in circles, rows, and other patterns as they saw fit.

A single sentence in 1777 set the template the United States still flies today.

The anniversary became a tradition, and in 1949 Congress formally designated June 14 as Flag Day, a national day of observance.