6 things you didn't know about the American flag
These surprising facts will change how you look at our nation's flag
These surprising facts will change how you look at our nation's flag
These surprising facts will change how you look at our nation's flag
Most know there are 13 stripes and 50 stars on the American flag, but do you know how many versions there were before that? : "We identify the flag with almost everything we hold dear on Earth. It represents our peace and security, our civil and political liberty, our freedom of religious worship, our family, our friends, our home. We see it in the great multitude of blessings, of rights and privileges that make up our country." Read on to learn more.
1. There have been , each with a different number of stars in the blue union. The official original flag contained 13 stripes and 13 stars, all symbolizing the first colonies.
2. The flag . In 1794, Kentucky and Vermont were added to the Union, resulting in a 15-star, 15-stripe flag that inspired Francis Scott Key's "The Star-Spangled Banner," which was written after the battle at Fort McHenry during the War of 1812.
3. The latest version of the American flag is the longest to last.
4. There is of Betsy Ross being the creator of the American flag. The story was largely unheard of until 1870, when Ross's grandson, William Canby, brought it up to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The family swears by the oral history, and recorded government payments to Betsy Ross seem to suggest what they say is true.
5. The . Red stands for valor, white stands for purity and blue stands for perseverance and justice.
6. The flag was first called "" by a young sea captain named William Driver in 1824. Originally from Massachusettes, he was living in Nashville, Tennessee, at the time of the Civil War, and proudly flew his Union flag. According to , Driver received a homemade flag in 1824 from his mother and a group of female admirers to celebrate his appointment as a master mariner and commander of his own ship, the Charles Doggett, at just 21. According to the legend, when Driver raised the flag up the main mast, he lifted his hat and said, 바카라 게임 웹사이트My ship, my country, and my flag, Old Glory.바카라 게임 웹사이트 While historians debate the story itself, he is still credited as the first person to give the flag its nickname.