The U.S. flag has 13 stripes, honoring the original thirteen colonies.
The stripes alternate red and white. The Continental Congress specified thirteen stripes and thirteen white stars in a blue field in its Flag Resolution of June 14, 1777. The stars represented a “new constellation,” while the stripes recalled the colonies that declared independence.
Congress temporarily increased the flag to 15 stripes after Vermont and Kentucky joined the Union in the 1790s. The Flag Act of 1818 restored the number of stripes to 13 and established that future states would be represented by additional stars instead.
The current flag has 50 stars and 13 stripes. The stars reflect the present states, while the unchanged stripe count links the modern flag to the founding era remembered in America250.