Historic American Flag Free Chart

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The stars on the American flag of 1777 were originally arranged in a circle but later arranged in three straight lines of four, five and four stars. The book Our Country and Its Resources, printed in the year 1917, states that in the year 1795, two more stripes and two more stars were added for the states of Vermont and Kentucky, making fifteen stars and fifteen stripes (as shown in the flag above). This is the flag that Francis Scott Key was viewing, in 1814, when he was inspired to write the lyrics to "The Star Spangled Banner", which became the national anthem of the United States of America.

A friend of Francis Scott Key had been captured by the British and Key was on a mission to try to get him released. Because of this, he happened to be in a spot where he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry through the whole day and night and when he saw the American flag still floating in the breeze in the morning, he was moved to write the words which Americans now sing as our national anthem.

"Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light ..."

" ... 'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ..."
--song lyrics by Francis Scott Key

He wrote the song on the back of a letter and later copied it out in full on another sheet of paper, in a hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. The song was first published in the Baltimore American on September 21, 1814.

The flag pictured above remained the national flag for twenty-three years, until more states were admitted into the Union and the flag design was changed to add more stars and stripes.

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