howcanibesowet:

Several flag designs with 13 stripes were used in 1776 and 1777, until Congress
established an official design on June 14, 1777 — now observed as Flag Day. The act
stated, “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.” Washington explained it this way: “We take the stars from heaven, the
red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have
separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing
liberty.”