For America250, Congress’s 1777 measure creating the first official U.S. flag design was the Flag Resolution.
The Second Continental Congress passed the resolution on June 14, 1777. It specified thirteen alternating red and white stripes and a blue field containing thirteen white stars, representing a new constellation. The resolution did not provide the modern flag’s exact arrangement of stars.
June 14 is now observed as Flag Day in the United States. The design changed as new states joined the Union: stars were added for new states, while the number of stripes was eventually fixed at thirteen to represent the original colonies.
The resolution is often associated with the Betsy Ross story, but historians have found no contemporary evidence that Ross designed or sewed the first flag. The official 1777 wording is therefore a firmer historical fact than the later legend.