The US flag as we know it today went through several changes that caused it to evolve into the flag we have now. On January 1, 1776, the Grand Union flag with 13 alternate red and white stripes represented the Continental Army. By May of that same year, Betsy Ross had sewn what was considered the first American flag with 13 white and red stripes and a navy blue rectangle that had 13 white stars forming a circle. On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed the first Flag Act which “Resolved, 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.”
As the nation grew in size and number of states, the flag had to change as well. The USA flag has evolved from a 13-state union to a 50-state country. The flag underwent 26 changes as history and events took their course and fifty stars replaced the original thirteen. The flag used to have 48 stars and continued to do so for 47 yrs, until the 49-star flag was adopted on July 4, 1959, and then the 50 star flag in 1960.
In 1794, the Act of January 13 led to 15 stripes and stars. In 1818, the Act of April 4 provided for only 13 stripes and one star for each state. In 1912 the Executive Order of President Taft set the proportions of the flag and the arrangement of the stars in six horizontal rows with a single point of each star to be upward. A series of Executive Orders led to today’s flag. Now, the USA flag has thirteen horizontal stripes, seven red and six white. These stripes represent the original colonies, and the 50 white stars identify the states of the Union.