The first official U.S. flag adopted by Congress in 1777 contained 13 stars.
On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution. It specified 13 alternating red and white stripes and 13 white stars on a blue field, representing the thirteen United States. The resolution did not prescribe a precise arrangement for the stars.
Early flag makers therefore used several designs, including circles, rows, and other patterns. The familiar Betsy Ross story associates the first flag with a circle of 13 five-pointed stars, but historians have found no definitive evidence that Ross designed or made the first official flag.
The number of stars later changed as new states joined the Union. Congress added two stars and two stripes for Vermont and Kentucky in 1795, then returned the stripe count to 13 in 1818 while continuing to increase the stars. The current flag has 50 stars, added when Hawaii became a state in 1960, while its 13 stripes preserve the original symbolism.