The first US Flag Act in 1777 established that "the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation."
In 1794, they added two more stripes and two more stars.
The Flag Act of April 4, 1818, specified that the flag have 13 stripes (to represent the original 13 colonies) and one star for each state. If a new state is established, the new star will be added to the flag on the 4th of July following that state's admission to the US.
The colors of the flag, according to Charles Thompson, who was Secretary of the Continental Congress, signify the following:
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- White = purity and innocence
- Red = hardiness & valour
- Blue = vigilance, perseverance & justice
The star symbolizes "the heavens and the divine goal to which man has aspired from time immemorial; the stripe is symbolic of the rays of light emanating from the sun" (from a book about the flag published by the House of Representatives in 1977).
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