1776

January 1 - The Grand Union flag is displayed on Prospect Hill. It has 13 alternate red and white stripes and the British Union Jack in the upper left-hand corner (the canton).

May - Betsy Ross reports that she sewed the first American flag.

1777

June 14 - Continental Congress adopts the following: Resolved: that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.(stars represent Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island)

1795

Flag with 15 stars and 15 stripes (Vermont, Kentucky)

1818

Flag with 20 stars and 13 stripes (it remains at 13 hereafter) (Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi)

1819

Flag with 21 stars (Illinois)

1820

Flag with 23 stars (Alabama, Maine)
first flag on Pikes Peak.

1822

Flag with 24 stars (Missouri)

1836

Flag with 25 stars (Arkansas)

1837

Flag with 26 stars (Michigan)

1845

Flag with 27 stars (Florida)

1846

1847

Flag with 29 stars (Iowa)

1848

Flag with 30 stars (Wisconsin)

1851

Flag with 31 stars (California)

1858

Flag with 32 stars (Minnesota)

1859

Flag with 33 stars (Oregon)

1861

Flag with 34 stars; (Kansas)
Note: Even after the South seceded from the Union, President Lincoln would not allow any stars to be removed from the flag.

1861 - 1863

1861 - 1865

Confederate States of America Battle Flag

1861 - 1865

The "Confederate Flag", a 20th century combination of the Battle Flag's colors with the Second Navy Jack's design, despite its never having historically represented the CSA as a nation, has become a widely recognized symbol of the South.

1863

Flag with 35 stars (West Virginia)

1863 - 1865

Second National Confederate States of America Flag

1865

Flag with 36 stars (Nevada)

1865

Third National Confederate States of America Flag

1867

Flag with 37 stars (Nebraska)

1877

Flag with 38 stars (Colorado)

1889

Flag with 39 stars that never was! Flag manufacturers believed that the two Dakotas would be admitted as one state and so manufactured this flag, some of which still exist. It was never an official flag.

1890

Flag with 43 stars (North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho)

1891

Flag with 44 stars (Wyoming)

1896

Flag with 45 stars (Utah)

1908

Flag with 46 stars (Oklahoma)

1912

Flag with 48 stars (New Mexico, Arizona)

1959

Flag with 49 stars (Alaska)

1960

Flag with 50 stars (Hawaii)

????

Proposed flag with 51 stars, to be used if a 51st state is added.