Happy July 4th

This July 4th, ComingAnarchy will be celebrating all over the world. In tribute to the United States, my home and the greatest country in history, I’ve compiled a short summary of information about the US flag and previous ones as I’m an amateur vexillilogist (more). If you’re not already familiar with Flagspot, it’s a gold mine of information on present and historical flags for almost every country, region and city in history.

For a history of the Stars and Stripes, see this link at Flags of the World and the usual wealth of info at Wikipedia.

The flag of the United States consists of 13 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 on the flag represent the 50 states and the 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.The United States flag is commonly called the Stars and Stripes or Old Glory. The name Old Glory was coined in the 1830s, and was of particularly common use during the era of 48-star version (1912 to 1959).

My personal favorite, of which I own a 3×5 cotton version and proudly display in my room is the Gadsden Flag

A short history can be found here and here:

The Gadsden flag is a yellow-colored flag with a depiction of a rattlesnake coiled and ready to strike with the phrase “DONT TREAD ON ME” positioned below the rattlesnake; the snake on the flag is a symbol of the 13 colonies’ defiance of the British Empire and King George III. The rattler gives fair warning to all who would threaten it.

The phrase “Don’t Tread on Me” is a rough translation of the Latin “Nemo me impune lacesset” which means “No one wounds me with impunity.”