The first official United States flag had thirteen stars, matching the thirteen states represented in the founding era celebrated by America250.
The Flag Resolution of June 14, 1777, established a design with thirteen alternating red and white stripes and thirteen white stars on a blue field. The resolution did not specify the stars' arrangement, so early flags used different patterns, including circles and rows.
The thirteen stars represented the original states, while the stripes represented the thirteen colonies. As new states joined the Union, Congress added stars to the flag. In 1795, two stars and two stripes were added for Vermont and Kentucky, but the extra stripes were later removed.
The current flag has fifty stars and thirteen stripes. The number of stars changes when states are admitted, while the number of stripes remains fixed at thirteen to preserve the original-colony symbolism.