On what date did the Continental Congress adopt the 13-star U.S. flag design?

The Continental Congress adopted the 13-star U.S. flag design on June 14, 1777.

The Flag Resolution specified 13 alternating red and white stripes and 13 white stars on a blue field. The stars represented the thirteen states, described in the resolution as a “new constellation.” The resolution was brief and did not prescribe the stars’ arrangement, allowing early flagmakers to use circles, rows, or other patterns.

June 14 is now observed as Flag Day in the United States. The holiday commemorates the 1777 resolution, not the Declaration of Independence, which Congress adopted nearly a year earlier. The flag later changed as new states joined the Union: stars were added, while the number of stripes eventually returned to thirteen.

The familiar 50-star flag was adopted in 1960 after Hawaii became a state. The long-standing claim that Betsy Ross designed the first U.S. flag remains popular, but historians have found no contemporary evidence confirming that story.