The United States flag had 13 stars under the Flag Act of 1777.
Congress passed the first national flag law on June 14, 1777. It specified a design of 13 alternating red and white stripes and 13 white stars on a blue field, representing the 13 states or former colonies united in the new nation.
The law did not specify the arrangement of the stars. Early flags therefore used different layouts, including circles, rows, and other patterns. The familiar circle arrangement is often associated with the Betsy Ross story, but historians have found no conclusive evidence that Ross designed the first official flag.
As new states joined the Union, Congress added stars while retaining 13 stripes. The flag eventually reached its current design of 50 stars in 1960 after Hawaii became a state. The 13-star version remains especially associated with the Revolutionary era commemorated by the United States semiquincentennial.