The first official star-spangled United States flag was specified with thirteen stars.
On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution calling for thirteen alternating red and white stripes and thirteen white stars on a blue field. The stars represented the thirteen states that had declared independence from Great Britain.
The resolution did not prescribe a particular arrangement for the stars. Flag makers used several patterns, including rows and circles, so the familiar Betsy Ross design is only one later interpretation of the early thirteen-star flag. The resolution also did not identify a single designer.
The number of stars changed as new states joined the Union. Fifteen stars and fifteen stripes were used from 1795 to 1818, but Congress later returned the stripes to thirteen while continuing to add stars. The current flag has fifty stars, representing the fifty states.