The first U.S. flag resolution specified 13 stripes for the national flag.
On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted a resolution describing the flag as 13 alternating red and white stripes with 13 white stars on a blue field. The 13 stars and stripes represented the 13 original states.
The resolution did not specify the exact arrangement of the stars, which allowed early flags to use different patterns. The best-known arrangement is the Betsy Ross pattern, but historians have not established that Ross designed the first national flag.
As new states joined the Union, Congress temporarily increased both the number of stars and stripes. The Flag Act of 1818 established 13 permanent stripes while continuing to add stars for new states. Today’s flag therefore retains 13 stripes but has 50 stars.