1.          Grand Union Flag/Continental Colors , January 1, 1776:   A design of thirteen stripes, alternately red and white, with a blue field in the upper-left-hand corner bearing the red cross of St. George of England with the white cross of St. Andrew of Scotland. <1>

2.          American Revolution “Mullet” (5 vs. 6 point) June 14, 1777:   The British crosses were probably dropped to indicate no hope of reconciliation under the Crown.   Francis Hopkinson, not Betsy Ross, probably made the first Stars & Stripes banner.   He was on the Naval Board and had a keen interest in heraldry.    <2>

“The five-pointed star as a political symbol originated during the American Revolution.   In the Old World the icon that resembles such a star was an insignificant emblem that British and French heraldry labeled a “mullet.”   This symbol does not connote a star of the heavens but is rather a schematic representation of the rowel of a spur, which in heraldry adored the arms of the third-born son in a noble family.   The celestial star is the “estoile,” with six wavy points, which by the seventeenth century had become a common charge in heraldry.   Before its incorporation into the U. S. flag, the five-point star was rare on flags or other heraldic devices.”   “Having little regard for Old World formalities, colonial Americans opted to represent the heavenly star with five points rather than the more proper six points of the estoile.” <3>

3.          National Flag , 1818:   The practice of adding a star and a stripe for each new state after the original proved too cumbersome and in 1818 Congress reverted back to the original thirteen stripes and added a star for each new state, on the July 4 th following admission. Until 1912 the arrangement of the stars was left to the flag maker.   <4>

Footnotes:

<1> Hinrichs & Delphine, p. 11
<2> ibid, p. 11
<3> Mayberry, p. 20
<4> Hinrichs & Delphine, p. 222

Mexican Flags of Independence , Bibliography or Home

3.28.04