The Flag Acts are three laws that sought to define the design of the flag of the United States. All the submitted suggestions were remarkably short, the shortest being a sentence of 31 words, and the longest being a title and two sentences of 117 words.

Flag Act of 1777

The Flag Act of 1777 () was passed by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1777, in response to a petition made by a Native American nation on June 3 for "an American Flag." As a result, June 14 is now celebrated as Flag Day in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

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''Resolved,'' That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.

Flag Act of 1794

The Flag Act of 1794 () was signed into law by President

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

on January 13, 1794. It changed the design of the flag to accommodate the admission into the Union of the states of

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

and

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. It provided for fifteen stripes as well as fifteen stars. This would be the only official flag of the United States not to have thirteen stripes.

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Flag Act of 1818

The Flag Act of 1818 () was enacted by Congress on April 4, 1818. It provided for the modern rule of having thirteen horizontal stripes and having the number of stars match the current number of states. It also provided that subsequent changes in the number of stars be made on July 4, Independence Day. As the result of the lack of a Flag Act between 1794 and 1818, there were no official U.S. flags with sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, or nineteen stars. No flag laws were enacted to accompany the admission of new states to the Union during this period.

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References

External links

Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789

{{Authority control Flags of the United States 3rd United States Congress United States federal legislation United States federal government administration legislation Ordinances of the Continental Congress