Flag Acts (United States)

The Flag Acts are three laws that sought to define the design of the flag of the United States. Each is remarkably short, the shortest being a sentence of 31 words, and the longest being a title and two sentences of 117 words.

The Flag Act of 1777 ("Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, 8:464". ) was passed by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1777, in response to a petition made by an American Indian nation on June 3 for "an American Flag." As a result, June 14 is now celebrated as Flag Day in the United States.

The Flag Act of 1794 (1 Stat. 341) was signed into law by President George Washington on January 13, 1794. It changed the design of the flag to accommodate the admission into the Union of the states of Vermont and Kentucky. It provided for fifteen stripes as well as fifteen stars. This would be the only official flag of the United States not to have thirteen stripes.

The Flag Act of 1818 (3 Stat. 415) was enacted by Congress on April 4, 1818. It provided for the modern rule of having thirteen stripes to represent the original thirteen colonies and having the number of stars match the number of states. It also provided that subsequent changes in the number of stars be made on July 4, Independence Day.

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