The American flag is one of the most widely recognised symbols in the world – but do you know how it came to be? Or the story behind the national anthem that shares its name? Here we go back to the beginning and chronicle the story of this powerful patriotic emblem, and the national anthem that accompanies it.
Click through this gallery to learn everything you need to know about America's Star-Spangled Banner...
The story of the Star-Spangled Banner begins with the American Revolution. In the 1760s tensions were running high between the British government and the 13 American colonies, who felt disillusioned and oppressed by their overseas rulers. The Boston Tea Party (pictured) – in which colonists dumped an entire shipment of tea into the Boston Harbor in protest against taxes imposed by the British – is seen as a major trigger for the ensuing Revolutionary War.
Following the Tea Party and a host of other rebellious acts by the colonists, war raged on the American mainland from 1775 through to 1783. The fight for American independence was led by now-legendary figures like George Washington (pictured), who would go on to become America's first president in 1789, and other founding fathers like politician Samuel Adams and statesman John Hancock. At the start of the war the 13 colonies had no unifying flag, nor an official anthem.
To have a national anthem and a national flag you have to be a nation, and the signing of the Declaration of Independence marked a historic divorce from British rule. Widely considered the founding document of the United States, it was adopted by Congress on 4 July 1776 and signed by key figures including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. It's still held up as a symbol of liberty today.
Even at the very beginning of the war, the 13 colonies knew they needed national symbols. The first known flag to represent the United States was the Grand Union Flag (pictured), which featured a version of the British Union Jack alongside 13 alternating red and white stripes, representing each of the then-colonies. Also known as the Cambridge Flag, the First Navy Ensign and the Continental Colors, its exact origin is hazy, but it is believed that this flag was first flown by George Washington in early 1776.
After the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it was decided that there needed to be a more official flag. In 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution, which set creative parameters for the new symbol. It had to incorporate 13 stripes, alternating red and white, as well as 13 white stars against a blue background. The resulting designs were similar to the Grand Union Flag, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, without the British Union Jack.
Love this? Follow us on Facebook for travel inspiration and more
Since these early specifications did not stipulate how the stars should be arranged, designs varied. Many early blueprints put their stars in a circle – an arrangement that might remind you of the European Union's flag today. Technically, neither the order of the stars nor the proportions of the flag were officially prescribed until 1912, and some level of variation continued until this date. A circular-star flag is seen flying above New Orleans in this painting, depicting the handover of Louisiana from France to the US in 1803.
The exact origins of the flag's design are hazy – but most historians now agree that a man named Francis Hopkinson (pictured) at least had a hand in it. Hopkinson was a New Jersey congressman whose signature was on the Declaration of Independence, but he was also a creative who painted and wrote poetry. Evidence supporting this theory includes an invoice submitted by Hopkinson to the Board of Admiralty, suggesting a "quarter cask of the public wine" as appropriate payment for his designs. This unusual request was, at least initially, denied.
Betsy Ross, a Philadelphia seamstress, is perhaps a better-known figure in the early history of the flag. The story goes that Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross made the first Stars and Stripes in 1776, at the request of George Washington himself. Known as the Betsy Ross Flag, the flag she stitched supposedly pioneered the use of five-pointed stars rather than six-pointed ones.
However, modern historians are sceptical of this story. Its main source is a paper presented to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1870 by William Canby – Betsy Ross's grandson – nearly a century after the events supposedly occurred. He put forward his account shortly after the American Civil War, a period of heightened patriotism, and historians have not found any significant evidence to back up his claims.
The Brandywine Flag (pictured) also features in early American history. It's unclear who designed it but – as its name suggests – it was flown by American troops during their defeat at the Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania back in 1777. It looks very different to the modern-day flag, with its square pattern and vivid red background, but it does include the crucial 13 stars and stripes.
By the end of the 18th century, the flag had changed again. In 1795, the number of stars and stripes increased from 13 to 15 to account for the states of Kentucky and Vermont joining the Union. In 1818, the number of stripes was once again reduced to 13, but the number of stars jumped to 20 to mark the accession of Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana and Mississippi. It was decided that from this point on, each new state would warrant one new star – resulting in the 50-star flag we see today.
Unfortunately, the stars and stripes – though they represent every state and colony – offer no representation for America's Indigenous peoples, whose land was steadily stolen by advancing Euro-American settlers. Still today, the US flag does not make any reference to America's federally recognised tribes – of which there are 574. Pictured here are members of the Pawnee tribe meeting with American explorers as they strike through what is now Nebraska in the early 1800s.
The American flag has several nicknames – including the affectionate 'Old Glory'. It's thought that this patriotic moniker was coined by a Massachusetts sea captain named William Driver, who supposedly gave his own flag the name and flew it from his mast on many voyages. After retiring he moved to Tennessee and flew the huge flag outside his house, but hid it from Confederates during the Civil War. When Union soldiers entered Nashville in 1862, the story goes that Driver retrieved Old Glory and proudly raised it outside the state capitol. The original flag is now under the care of the Smithsonian in Washington DC.
The term 'Star-Spangled Banner' doesn't just refer to the American flag – it's the name of the American national anthem too. This patriotic song comes from a poem by Francis Scott Key, who was reportedly inspired by the sight of the American flag rising above Fort McHenry (pictured) during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812 – a territorial and commercial conflict fought between the United States and Britain. Despite its name, the war went on for three years, and the Battle of Baltimore was fought in 1814.
An awed Key supposedly penned the poem Defence of Fort M'Henry as he watched British forces bombard the fort all night from a ship anchored offshore. He realised "by the dawn's early light" that an American, not British flag remained flying above the fort. The United States won the battle and Key's words (pictured here on the original manuscript) were published first in the Baltimore Patriot newspaper and then across the country.
Perhaps surprisingly, the musical arrangement was the vision of a Brit not an American, and composer and organist John Stafford Smith is the brains behind the soaring score. He composed the song To Anacreon In Heaven in the 1770s and it originally served as the official song for a well-heeled gentlemen's club in London. The popular tune was apparently fitted to Key's words immediately by his brother-in-law, who noticed that they matched up well.
Some credit the cartoon Ripley’s Believe It or Not! with spearheading the campaign to afford America an official national anthem. A Ripley cartoon in the 1920s pointed out that the US didn't technically have one – even though The Star-Spangled Banner had acted as an unofficial anthem for years – to the dismay of the public. In 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed The Star-Spangled Banner's national anthem status into law.
The national anthem eventually permeated almost every aspect of patriotic American life – from sports games to political rallies – and it still does today. It's also customary to place your hand over your heart while singing the anthem – as demonstrated here by baseball players Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and manager Casey Stengel at Yankee Stadium in the 1950s.
However, the anthem's undertones have recently been criticised. Key was a lawyer who benefited from slave-holding wealth, was a known supporter of slavery and prosecuted abolitionists, some of whom protested that America was really the "land of the free and home of the oppressed". In recent years some American sports stars have kneeled or 'taken the knee' while the anthem is played at games, in a peaceful protest against racial injustice and police brutality.
Many Americans also take flag-bearing very seriously and there are specific rules to follow when displaying it in public. The United States Flag Code establishes several guidelines, including that it should never be presented upside down (except as a signal of dire distress), it should never touch the floor or ground, and it should never be displayed on days of "inclement" weather, such as snow or rain.
Now discover the 15 most common misconceptions about US history