On the recordJune 14, 2000
Today is the 223rd anniversary of the adoption, by the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, of a resolution establishing a new symbol for the new nation that was then in its birth throes. The resolution, passed on June 14, 1777, was a model of simplicity, specifying only 'that the flag be 13 stripes alternate red and white; that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.' Although the flag reputedly stitched by Betsy Ross arranged the stars in a full circle, other versions of this first flag placed the stars in a half circle or in rows, as the resolution did not state how the new constellation was to be configured. This first flag, like the Constitution to follow it in 1787, was not entirely new, but rather predicated on flags that had come before it. An English flag, known as the Red Ensign, flew over the thirteen colonies from 1707 until the Revolution.
Source
govinfo.gov
