Queen Anne's flag, from 1704, which is also called the British Red Ensign. British troops flew this flag in battle, during the American War of Independence and it was also flown in the American colonies, before the war. |
The 1767 flag of the "Sons of Liberty", who had protested British Parliament's taxation policy in the American colonies, on December 16, 1773, by throwing three British cargos of tea into the Boston, Massachusetts harbor. Its four white and five red stripes were known as the "Rebellious Stripes" and an original copy of it is at the Old State House in Boston, Massachusetts. |
The American Stripes flag that was flown on American merchant ships during the American War of Independence. The thirteen red and white stripes represented the thirteen American colonies. |
The Grand Union flag, from 1776, which was the first common flag of the American colonies. It was first flown by the American Colonial Navy on December 3, 1775 and it remained the national flag until June 14, 1777, when a national flag of thirteen stars with red and white stripes was officially adopted by the Continental Congress, though the pattern of the stars, which were described as a new constellation, was not specified. By coincidence, the design of the Grand Union flag was the same as that of the British East India Company, which first used this design, for its flag, in 1707. |
The American Betsy Ross flag, from 1776, which is, reportedly, based on a design that General George Washington had showed her. She is said to have modified the shape of the stars, from six points to five, because these could be more easily cut. It is said to have been flown for the first time in battle, by American colonial troops, on July 8, 1777, at the Battle of Fort Ann, in New York, where one was captured by British troops. |
The first American flag with stars in rows, in a pattern that matches the crosses of Queen Anne's flag, may have been designed by Francis Hopkinson, in 1777. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, in 1776. |
The current American flag! The number of stars have changed over the years, with the number of American states, but its basic design, of stars on a blue field with red and white stripes, has remained the same! |
I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
