Hamden Historical Society

Preserving our past for the future

Home

Newsletters

About Us

Board of Directors

Publications

Contact Us

Projects

Join - Renew - Support Us

Historic Places & Events

History Room

COVID Survey

Searching Our Collection

Dickerman House

Dickerman House Repairs

Talmadge Cider Mill Barn

Barn Repairs

Leatherman's Cave

Lockkeeper's House

Events

Past Programs

Additional Links

Website Archives by Year

Archive 2022

Archive 2021

Archive 2020

Archive 2019

Archive 2018

Archive 2017

Archive 2016

The Living "Old Glory"

Flag Day, June 14, 2023 - Since Betsy Ross sewed together the first stars and stripes, the flag of the United States of America has done something that happens rarely to other national flags.  It has changed.  Not only has it undergone a change, it has undergone twenty-six changes, starting with the 1795 addition of two more stars (and stripes) representing Vermont and Kentucky.
 
Starting with Flag Day, and for the next 26 weeks, the HHS website will feature an official flag design of each of those 26 changes, along with a short summary of what was going on during its tenure.  Several designs had a very short tenure - just one year - as did our 49-star flag from 1959 to 1960, that bridged the tenures of the second longest and longest designs.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

24 Stars
(July 4, 1822 - July 3, 1836)
August 20

Significant historical events between July 4, 1822 and July 3, 1836:  CLICK HERE
 
-  Some of this information obtained from Wikipedia  - 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

23 Stars
13 Stripes
(July 4, 1820 - July 3, 1822)
July 24

Alabama (Dec. 14, 1819), Maine (March 15, 1820)

Between July 4, 1820 and July 3, 1822:
  • 1820 – Massachusetts divided in two with the admission of Maine as a state.
  • 1820 - James Monroe reelected president unopposed, Daniel D. Tompkins reelected vice president.
  • 1821 – Missouri becomes a state
  • 1821 – Florida becomes a U.S. territory

    -  Some of this information obtained from Wikipedia  - 


_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

21 Stars
13 Stripes
(July 4, 1819 - July 3, 1820)
July 10

Illinois (December 3, 1818)

Between July 4, 1819 and July 3, 1820:  July 4th - Arkansas became a territory, and Alabama (Dec. 14th) and Maine (March 15th) were admitted as the 22nd and 23rd states.  Other significant events:
  • August 6 – Norwich University is founded by Captain Alden Partridge in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States.
  • August 24 – Samuel Seymour sketches a Kansa lodge and war dance at the present location of Manhattan, Kansas, while part of Stephen Harriman Long's exploring party. This work is now the oldest drawing known to be made in the state of Kansas.
  • October – The ʻAi Noa movement assumes power in Hawaii.
  • November 3 – The USS Congress, commanded by Captain John D. Henley, becomes the first U.S. warship to visit China, landing at Lintin Island off of the coast of Canton.
  • December 14 – Alabama is admitted as the 22nd U.S. state.
  • The African Slave Trade Patrol is founded to stop the slave trade on the coast of West Africa.
  • February 6 – 86 free African American colonists sail from New York City to Freetown, Sierra Leone.
  • March 3rd and 6th – Slavery in the United States: The Missouri Compromise becomes law.
-  Some of this information obtained from Wikipedia  -

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

20 Stars
13 Stripes
(July 4, 1818 - July 3, 1819)
July 4

Tennessee (June 1, 1796), Ohio (March 1, 1803), Louisiana (April 30, 1812), Indiana (December 11, 1816), and Mississippi (December 10, 1817)

The year after the adoption of the 15-star design, Tennessee was admitted on June 1, 1796, but no change was made to the flag.  And no changes came with the admissions of Ohio in 1803, Louisiana in 1812, or Indiana in 1816.

But after Mississippi was admitted on December 10, 1817, bringing the total number of states to 20, Congress decided to enact a new flag policy that mandated an additional star (or stars) be added to the flag at noon on the July 4th following the admission of any new state(s).  The number of stripes was also permanently reduced to thirteen to represent the original thirteen colonies that became our first states.

At noon on July 4, 1818, during the first term of President James Monroe, the new 20-star design of four rows of five stars was introduced.  Like several other future designs, this flag would be the current design for just one year, but lots of things happened during those 365 days.

On October 20, 1818 the Convention of 1818 between the U.S. and the U.K. was signed, establishing the U.S.-Canadian border at the 49th parallel for most of its length.  On December 3rd, Illinois was admitted to the union, guaranteeing a new star on the flag next July 4th.

December 24, 1818 saw the first performance of "Silent Night."  On February 17, 1819, the House passed the first Missouri Compromise.  The first Trans-Atlantic sailing of a steamship was accomplished, mostly under sail, when the S.S. Savannah steamed into Liverpool on June 20, 1819.  On July 3, 1819, the Bank of Savings, the nation's first savings bank, opened in New York City.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

15 Stars
15 Stripes
"The Star-Spangled Banner"
(May 1, 1795 - July 3, 1818)
June 23

Vermont (March 4, 1791) and Kentucky (June 1, 1792)

With the addition of Vermont in 1791 and Kentucky the following year, Congress decided that the U.S. flag should have two additioinal stripes and two additional stars to recognize the new states.
 
In 1793, the Senate passed a bill increasing the number of stars and stripes to 15.   The House was not so easy to convince, however.  There were opponents to the legislation who noted, for example, that replacing all flags aboard our naval vessels would cost $60 each.  Massachusetts Rep. Benjamin Goodhue feared that the legislation would mandate changes to our flag with each state or group of states.  He was right!

The House eventually passed the bill by a vote of 50 to 42.  Starting on May 1, 1795 our flag would sport fifteen stars and fifteen stripes.
 
In her book, "The Star-Spangled Banner" (2003, National Geographic Society), author Margaret Sedeen wrote, "This was the flag that flew on American ships during hostilities with France from 1798 to 1801.  In 1803 it was raised over New Orleans after the Louisiana Purchase.  It was the flag carried on the western explorations of Lewis and Clark and Zebulon Pike."  Indeed, it was the 15-star design that flew during a bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British in 1814, that inspired 35-year old Baltimore lawyer Francis Scott Key to write a poem that would become our national anthem.
 
The fifteen-stripe design lasted twenty-three years, until 1818, when new 20-star design was introduced.  The new design included a return to 13 stripes.  More on that next week . . .

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

13 Stars
(June 14, 1777 - May 1, 1795)
June 14

"Betsy Ross" Design
Official government design
Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts,
Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York,
North Carolina, and Rhode Island.


As legend has it, Betsy Ross created our first flag with thirteen white five-point stars arranged in a circle on a blue field, and thirteen alternating red and white stripes to represent the thirteen original colonies that became our first thirteen states.  This is the design that most of us associate with the original flag.  However, the arrangement of the 13 stars on the U.S. flag as officially adopted by the government was actually arranged in ranks and files (3-2-3-2-3), as has been the case on all subsequent designs.

Until the 49-star design was adopted by the government in 1959, there was no "official" design.  Many flag makers, particularly those in the 18th and 19th centuries, often chose their own configuration of star arrangements in the union.
 
The 13-star design as adopted in 1777 represented the United States of America through the entire era of the Articles of Confederation and eight years into the Constitution era.
 
Regardless of the number of stars, no official U.S. flag is ever obsolete.  And no single star in the union represents any one state.
June 14th - What is FLAG DAY?

Other 13-star Designs

"Hopkinson" version - 1777-1795
"Cowpence" Flag
4-5-4 pattern was very popular during the Revolutionary War.
12 stars in a square with one in the center as depicted in a famous painting by by John Trumbull
Official Website of the Hamden Historical Society

Unless otherwise cited or in the Public Domain, all material on this website, including photos, essays, articles and commentary published herein, are © Copyright 2016-2023 by the Hamden Historical Society, and may not be copied or republished in whole or in part without prior written  permission of the
Hamden Historical Society
P.O. Box 5512
Hamden, CT  06518-0512
hhs@hamdenlibrary.org