Happy Flag Day! Today we celebrate the stars and stripes because it’s the day in 1777 that our flag was officially adopted by the Second Continental Congress. Before this point, colonial regiments in the Revolutionary War fought under their own flags. In June 1775, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and established the Continental Army, and along with it, the first “American” flag, the Continental Colors. This flag was red and white striped with a Union Jack in the corner – a little too close to the British flag, for many people. So on June 14, 1777 the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution with a new design for the flag – red and white stripes with 13 stars in a blue field.
Several people were instrumental in advocating for the creation of Flag Day, including a Wisconson school teacher and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. But it wasn’t until nearly 150 years after the flag was adopted that Flag Day became an official holiday, thanks to Woodrow Wilson’s presidential proclamation in 1916.
The current design of the American flag is its 27th. This 50-star flag is the first to have lasted 50 years.
Learn more here.