Flag Day

Gabriel Martin picks up tattered US flag off the ground.
Tired soldier: It's a lost cause.
Gabriel Martin folds up flag and puts it in his satchel.
--The Patriot

On this day in 1777, the Continental Congress adopted a national flag for the newly declared United States of America. The resolution stated that the US flag be "thirteen alternate stripes red and white" and that "the Union be thirteen stars. white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation."

The flag's design was subsequently modified as new states were added to the Union. In 1818, Congress enacted a law that locked in the 13 stripe portion of the design and permitted only the number of stars to change on the blue backdrop.

The first Flag Day was observed in 1877 on the 100th anniversary of congressional adoption. Afterwards, several states continued to celebrate Flag Day until it was declared a national day of observance in 1949.