Flag of the United States

The flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal
horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white; there is
a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing 50 small, white,
five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars (top
and bottom) alternating with rows of five stars. The 50 stars represent the
50 states and the 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies. Red stands
for courage, white for truth, and blue for justice.

It is commonly called the Stars and Stripes and less commonly "Old Glory".
Because the name "Old Glory" technically refers to the 48-star version used
from 1912 to 1959, this usage connotes the history of the flag. The flag has
gone through many changes since 13 of the English colonies in North America
adopted it.

To US citizens, their flag symbolizes many things. They have seen it as
representing all of the freedoms and rights guaranteed in the United States
Constitution and its Bill of Rights. Perhaps most of all they see it as a
symbol of individual and personal liberty.

The flag flew in battle for the first time, at Cooch's Bridge in Maryland on
September 3, 1777 during the American Revolutionary War.

The original American flag had thirteen stars. As further states entered the
union, extra stars have appeared, but the number of stripes has remained at
the original thirteen. The exception was the 15-star flag, which also had 15
stripes. It was this 15-star flag which inspired Francis Scott Key to write
The Star-Spangled Banner.

When the flag changes, the change always takes place on July 4 in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as a consequence of the Flag Act of April 4,
1818. July 4, the United States Independence Day, commemorates the founding
of the nation. The most recent change, from forty-nine stars to fifty,
occurred in 1960, after Hawaii gained statehood. Before that, the admission
of Alaska the year before prompted the debut of a short-lived 49-star flag.

The approved method of destroying old and tattered flags consists of burning
them in a simple ceremony. Flag burnings may also protest actions by the
United States government.

Influences on other symbols

The common use of stripe-like decoration in the traditional corporate logos
of major US corporations such as IBM and AT&T may suggest a subliminal
appeal to patriotism on the part of those entities. It could also possibly
be that these companies selected their logos without regard to the American
flag, and the resemblance is coincidental.

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