The current flag of the United States has thirteen stripes.
The seven red and six white horizontal stripes represent the original thirteen colonies that declared independence from Great Britain. The stripes remain fixed at thirteen even as the country admitted additional states.
The blue canton contains the stars representing the states in the Union. Congress added stars as new states entered, but the number of stripes was restored to thirteen by the Flag Act of 1818 after earlier designs had temporarily added stripes for new states.
This distinction explains a common mix-up: the stripes symbolize the original colonies, while the stars symbolize the current states. The flag’s thirteen-stripe design therefore links the modern national symbol directly to the Revolutionary-era origins remembered during America250.