Today, how does the U.S. flag change when a state is admitted to the Union?
A new star is added to the flag. In 1795, after Vermont and Kentucky were admitted to the Union, two stars and two stripes were added to the U.S. flag. However, with the addition of more and more states, it was not possible to add a new stripe for each new state. Therefore, Congressman Wendover of New York City suggested keeping thirteen red and white stripes to represent the thirteen original colonies and adding a new star to represent the new state. Congress agreed and passed the third Flag Act of the United States on April 4, 1818, stating whenever a state was added, the new flag would fly on the next Fourth of July. Top of Page 7. How many stars and stripes does the U.S. flag have today? 50 stars and 13 stripes. Since 1960, the U.S. flag contains 50 white stars on a field of blue and 13 red and white stripes (7 red stripes and 6 white stripes). The 50 stars represent the 50 states of the U.S., and the 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies. The fifty-star flag is the twenty-
