America’s 250th celebration of our beginning is being celebrated in 2026. There are sure to be celebrations in a lot of cities and communities around the country and we wanted to take a minute to reflect on how the flag has changed over the years and what impact that it has had on Americans over the last 250 years. We will also take a look at the impact of the American flag throughout the years.
History of the American Flag
The American flag has certainly evolved over the course of the last 250 years. Most people believe that the Betsy Ross was the original flag of America, but in fact there is no evidence to support that it was ever an official flag. The Betsy Ross flag was originally done during the Revolutionary War and Betsy Ross was one of a few different people to sew flags for our nation, but they were never considered to be official flags of America.
The first official flag of the United States was adopted on June 14, 1777. A lot of evidence shows that it was Congressman Francis Hopkinson that designed the first official flag and was one of the people to sign the Declaration of Independence. It included 13 stars and 13 stripes (7 red and 6 white stripes). The 13 stars represented a new constellation and the 13 stripes represented the original 13 colonies.
Then, in 1794 a new flag act was was signed when Vermont and Kentucky were added the flag changed to 15 stars and 15 stripes. It remained this way even with the additions of 5 new states up until 1818 when a third flag act was signed that reduced the numbers of stripes back to 13 and added stars to the star field to now represent the number of states in the union. Stars were added to the flag as new states became part of the U.S. until the final design of the flag with 50 stars and 13 stripes that has been the official flag of the United States since Hawaii was added back in 1959.
The 5o star flag was designed by Robert G. Heft as a school project back when he was in high school. His design was approved by President Eisenhower and adopted as the official flag of the United States. Ironically, it was reported that Robert got a B- on the project prompting him to submit the design to Congress. Once the flag was approved by Eisenhower the teacher went back and reversed his grade to an A!
The Meaning of the U.S. Flag Colors
The colors of the flag also have meaning. Red represents Valor, Blue represents Justice/Perseverance and White represents Purity/Liberty.
The U.S. Flag and the Pledge of Allegiance
The Pledge of Allegiance was written by Francis Bellamy back in August 1892. It was written to honor Christopher Columbus’s 400th anniversary of arriving in America. It was written to give students in school a chance to show unity and pride in our nation. It is often used to start off a school day by standing up and putting your right hand over your heart and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance with students facing the flag. Congress officially made the Pledge of Allegiance to be part of the flag code back in 1942. In 1954 Congress added the words “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance during the threat of the Cold War and Communism.
Our National Anthem- The Star-Spangled Banner
The Star-Spangled Banner was written by American Lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key in 1814 after he had witnessed the British invasion of Fort McHenry in Baltimore. During the War of 1812 Francis and a U.S. official rowed their boat to a British war ship in order to try and negotiate the release of American soldiers. The meeting went well with Scott and the official dining with the British. When it was time for them to leave, the British made them stay as they had seen too much and they didn’t want Francis and the U.S. official to report anything back to the Americans that they had seen. The British posted up ships and bombed Fort McHenry all night with over 1,500 bombs to try and take Fort McHenry and then move in to take the city of Baltimore. As the smoke cleared in the morning Francis Scott Key thought he would see the British flag flying signifying the takeover of Fort McHenry, but when he looked out he saw the original 13 star flag flying signifying that the Americans had persevered and held down the Fort. When he was released the following day, he pulled out an envelope that he had in his pocket and wrote down the words to what he titled at the time “Defence of Fort McHenry” which was a poem at the time. Later Francis Scott Key gave the poem to his brother-in-law, Joseph H. Nicholson, who noticed that the words fit the melody to “The Anacreontic Song” which ironically was the official song of the Anacreontic Society which was an 18th century gentlemen’s club in London! The song still stands to this day. The original 13 star American flag is also known today as “The Star Spangled Banner” flag.
Order America’s 250th Celebration Flags
There are a lot of different scenarios in our nation’s history that involve flags and how those flags represent the time period that we were/are in. Martin’s Flag has a great selection of different flags to choose from for you to celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday. It is sure to be a big 4th of July celebration in 2026 and we have a lot of different flags to help celebrate in all different sizes. We talked about the Betsy Ross and while the Betsy Ross was never an official flag of the United States, it’s still a great story in American history. We have several different Betsy Ross style flags to celebrate the 250th anniversary.
Also, the “America 250” logo flag is the official trademarked flag for the 250th, but there are a lot of different flags to choose from if that isn’t your cup of tea. Every 250th flag that we have is made in the U.S.A. with materials that are also all sourced from American suppliers. We hope that you have a great 250th celebration and we are a proud American company that has been around for over half the life of the U.S.A. celebrating our 131st year in business this year.
Contact Martin’s Flag for Help
If you have questions about our selection of America’s 250th Anniversary Celebration Flags, or, any other products available on our website we encourage you to contact us or call us at (800) 992.3524.