The 1777 Flag Resolution established the first official U.S. flag design on June 14, 1777.
The Continental Congress resolved that the flag should have thirteen alternating red and white stripes and thirteen white stars on a blue field. The stars represented a “new constellation,” linking the design to the thirteen states.
The resolution did not specify the stars’ arrangement, their number of points, or which color stripe should appear at the top. Those details developed through later practice and flag designs.
June 14 is now observed as Flag Day in the United States. The familiar story that Betsy Ross personally made the first U.S. flag is a later tradition and is not established by the wording of the 1777 resolution itself.