What was the Flag Act of 1794?
January 13, 1794 — The Flag Act of 1794 was signed into law by President George Washington today, providing for 15 stripes as well as 15 stars.
The change in the flag was issued to accommodate the admission into the Union of the states of Vermont and Kentucky. This would be the only official flag of the United States not to have thirteen stripes.
It was the second of three laws that sought to define the design of the US flag. (See those below.) And click here for the official law of the Flag Act of 1794.
The first was the Flag Act of 1777, 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. “Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
The third was the Flag Act of 1818, which 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. “An Act to establish the flag of the United States. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress Assembled, That from and after the fourth day of July next, the flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white: that the union be twenty stars, white in a blue field. And be it further enacted, That on the admission of every new state into the Union, one star be added to the union of the flag; and that such addition shall take effect of the fourth day of July then next succeeding such admission.”
Sources
Words of Wisdom
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress Assembled, That from and after the first day of May, Anno Domini, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, the flag of the United States, be fifteen stripes alternate red and white. That the Union be fifteen stars, white in a blue field.
