The
flag of the United States was established by President Woodrow Wilson in
1916. It is the official commemoration of the adoption of the flag by the
Second Continental Congress on June 14th, 1777. On that day Congress
“...resolved, that the Flag of the thirteen United States shall be thirteen
stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white on
a blue field, representing a new constellation.” According to legend,
President Washington asked Betsy Ross to design a flag for the new country.
There have been twenty-seven versions over the years, the most recent
version was a result of Hawaii joining the United States on July 4, 1960.
Flag
day is not a federal holiday. In 1949, President Truman signed an Act of
Congress that requested that the President should call on officials to
display the flag on all government buildings and should urge the people of
the United States to observe the day as an anniversary of the adoption of
the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States.
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