How many stars did the 1777 Flag Act require on the first official United States flag?

The 1777 Flag Act required thirteen stars on the first official United States flag.

Congress passed the act on June 14, 1777, during the Revolutionary War. It specified thirteen alternating red and white stripes and thirteen white stars on a blue field, representing the thirteen states or former colonies united in the new nation.

The law did not specify the stars’ shape, arrangement, or exact proportions. Later designs commonly showed five-pointed stars in a circle, which became associated with the Betsy Ross flag. However, the traditional claim that Betsy Ross personally designed the first flag is not firmly established by surviving contemporary evidence.

The flag’s design changed as new states entered the Union. The Flag Act of 1794 added stars and stripes for Vermont and Kentucky, creating a 15-star, 15-stripe flag. Congress later returned to thirteen stripes while continuing to add one star for each new state.