In the Right Place: It’s Flag Day. On this day in 1777, the Second Continental Congress resolved that “the flag of the United States shall be of thirteen stripes of alternate red and white, with a union of thirteen stars of white in a blue field, representing the new constellation.” Congress didn’t specify how the stars should be arranged in the flag’s upper left field (the “union” or “canton” of a flag). Consequently, flag makers arranged them in circles and other designs.

This “Stars and Stripes” version was the second “American” flag. At the time of the Declaration of Independence, the original Continental flag also had the 13 alternating red and white stripes, but its canton was a variation of the British Union Jack. (Brooklin, Maine)

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