On what date did the Continental Congress adopt the first Stars and Stripes flag?

The Continental Congress adopted the first Stars and Stripes flag on June 14, 1777.

The Flag Resolution declared that the flag of the thirteen United States would have thirteen alternating red and white stripes and thirteen white stars on a blue field. The resolution did not specify the stars’ exact arrangement, so early flags could display them in different patterns.

June 14 is now observed as Flag Day in the United States. The flag adopted in 1777 was not identical in every detail to today’s flag: later laws changed the number of stars as new states joined the Union. In 1795, both the stars and stripes increased to fifteen, but the stripes were later returned to thirteen.

The current flag has fifty stars and thirteen stripes. Its history connects the Revolutionary era represented by America250 with the country’s later territorial and political growth.