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US Flag History Timeline
Stars and Stripes or Old Glory
Adopted on June 14, 1777
1776: January 2 -- The first unofficial national flag, called the Grand Union or Continental Colours, was raised at the behest of Gen. George Washington near his headquarters outside Boston, Mass. The Grand Union flag is displayed on Prospect Hill with 13 alternate red and white stripes and the British Union Jack in the upper left-hand corner (the canton).
1776: May -- George Washington and two other representatives from the Continental Congress reportly called upon a Philadelphia seamstress, Betsy Ross, to ask her to make a new American flag. This version of events cannot be confirmed by historians, however. Although nobody knows for sure who designed the flag, it may have been Continental Congress member Francis Hopkinson.
1777: June 14 -- The first official flag, also known as the Stars and Stripes or Old Glory, was adopted by the Continental Congress: "Resolved, That the Flag of the United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." The resolution did not specify how the stars should be arranged, and so the layout varied. (stars represent Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island)
1787: Captain Robert Gray carries the flag around the world on his sailing vessel (around the tip of South America, to China, and beyond). He discovered the Columbia river and named it after his boat The Columbia. His discovery was the basis of America's claim to the Oregon Territory.
1794: Congress authorized the addition of two more stars and two more stripes to mark the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the Union in 1791 and 1792, respectively. This 15-star, 15-stripe flag, which came into use after May 1795, was the "star-spangled banner" that inspired lawyer and poet Francis Scott Key. (Vermont, Kentucky)
1805: April 27 -- It was the first flag to be flown over a fortress of the Old World when American Marine and Naval forces raised it above the pirate stronghold in Tripoli
1813: September -- It was the ensign of American forces in the Battle of Lake Erie
1814: September 14 -- As daylight broke, Francis Scott Key saw the American flag still flying over Fort McHenry, after it had been bombarded all night by the British. Inspired, he wrote a poem entitled "The Defense of Fort M'Henry," which was later set to music and renamed the "Star-Spangled Banner." Congress made it the official national anthem in 1931.
1815: January -- Flown by General Jackson in New Orleans
1818: Flag with 20 stars and 13 stripes (it remains at 13 hereafter) (Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi) Act of April 4, 1818 - After five more states joined the Union,provided for 13 stripes and one star for each state, to be added to the flag on the 4th of July following the admission of each new state.
1941: December 7 -- One of the most memorable is the flag that flew over the Capitol in Washington on December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked. This same flag was raised again on December 8 when war was declared on Japan, and three days later at the time of the declaration of war against Germany and Italy.
1892: "Pledge of Allegiance" first published in a magazine called "The Youth's Companion." Authorship was claimed for James B. Upham and Francis Bellamy. In 1939 the United States Flag Association ruled that Bellamy was the author of the original pledge. The words, "under God" were added on June 14, 1954. In pledging allegiance to the flag, stand with the right hand over the heart or at attention. Men remove their headdress. Persons in uniform give the military salute. All pledge together: 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.
1909: Robert Peary places the flag his wife sewed atop the North Pole. He left pieces of another flag along the way.
1912: Flag with 48 stars (New Mexico, Arizona) Executive Order of President Taft dated June 24, 1912 - established proportions of the flag and provided for arrangement of the stars in six horizontal rows of eight each, a single point of each star to be upward.
1916: May 30 -- President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Flag Day a day of national celebration.
1931: Congress officially recognizes `The Star-Spangled Banner' as the national anthem of the United States . Its stirring words were written by Francis Scott Key.
1945: The flag that flew over Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, is flown over the White House on August 14, when the Japanese accepted surrender terms.
1949: August 3 -- President Harry Truman signed an Act of Congress that requested that the president issue an annual proclamation calling for the observance of Flag Day and for the display of the flag on all federal government buildings.
1959: Flag with 49 stars (Alaska) Executive Order of President Eisenhower dated January 3, 1959 - provided for the arrangement of the stars in seven rows of seven stars each, staggered horizontally and vertically. Executive Order of President Eisenhower dated August 21, 1959 - provided for the arrangement of the stars in nine rows of stars staggered horizon tally and eleven rows of stars staggered vertically.
1963: Flag placed on top of Mount Everest by Barry Bishop.
1969: July 20 -- The American flag is placed on the moon by Neil Armstrong.
1995: December 12 -- The Flag Desecration Constitutional Amendment is narrowly defeated in the Senate. The Amendment to the Constitution would make burning the flag a punishable crime.
2002: June 26 -- A federal appeals court declared that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional because of the words "under God" inserted by Congress in 1954. This ruling was reconfirmed in February 2003.
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