The origin of the American flag

In the more than 200 years since the founding of the United States, the pattern of the national flag has been changed 20 times, with an average change of less than 11 years. Why do we change the flag pattern so frequently? This has to do with the changing territory of the United States. The flag of the United States is the Stars and Stripes Banner. Each star on the flag represents a state, and the number of states in the United States is constantly increasing. Therefore, every time a state is added, the pattern of the flag must be changed. The earliest national flag of the United States appeared during the Revolutionary War. The people of the 13 colonial states participating in the war formulated a "Grand Union Flag" to express their will to share the same hatred and fight together. The flag has 13 red and white horizontal stripes at the bottom, representing the 13 colonial states. The upper left corner of the flag is a reduced British Union Jack pattern, reflecting that at that time, the colonies still recognized the status of the British suzerainty. But this flag soon encountered opposition from people. They believed that since it was independent, there should no longer be a Union Jack pattern on it. As a result, people began to design flag patterns that could truly represent the United States. Interestingly, everyone came up with the idea of ??using a star to represent a state, but the arrangement of the 13 stars was different. Later, at the suggestion of Washington, the first President of the United States, a pattern of 13 stars arranged in a circle was chosen. This flag was officially used in 1777. It was the first stars and stripes of the United States. This flag was used until 1794. In 1794, when Vermont and Kentucky joined the United States, the U.S. Congress decided to modify the flag, increasing the number of stars from 13 to 15, and the horizontal stripes from 13 to 15. The 15 stars were arranged in the format of 3?0?9. The upper left corner of the flag. After that: every time the number of states in the United States increases, the star on the American flag increases by one, the horizontal stripe also increases, the arrangement has to change, and the flag pattern also changes. In 1818, the U.S. Congress passed a flag amendment bill, stipulating that from then on, the number of stripes on the flag would be restored to the original 13 stripes to commemorate the 13 earliest colonial states that won the Revolutionary War. The white five-pointed star in the upper left corner of the flag is equal to the number of states. For each additional state, one star will be added to the flag. In 1912, when New Mexico and Arizona joined the United States, there were 48 states in the United States, and there were 48 stars on the flag. 48 stars can be arranged into a 6?0?2 rectangle. This arrangement is very beautiful. The 48-star American Stars and Stripes flag was in use from 1912 to 1959. This is also the common American flag that the Chinese people used before liberation, and they usually call it "Citi". In 1959, Alaska joined the United States, and the United States had 49 states. The 49 stars on the flag were changed to a 7?0?1 arrangement, with little change. But when Hawaii joined the United States and became the 50th state of the United States. The arrangement of the 50 stars on the flag became complicated. After repeated arguments, a staggered arrangement of 6?0?9+5?0?8 was finally adopted. This is since the independence of the United States. The 20th change to the flag is the American flag we see now. There is one thing worth mentioning: In 1864, during the American Civil War, 11 states declared their secession from the Union, but Lincoln still ordered the flag with 35 stars to be flown to show that the country was unified and would never allow division.