The American Flag

When researching the American flag, Flag of the United States on Wikipedia.org informed me of the origination and meaning behind the flag. The flag originated from June 14, 1777 with the 13-star design, "Continental Colors" and then progressed to the current 50-star flag from July 4, 1960. On ushistory.org about Betsy Ross and the American Flag, I found a great timeline on the flag to the very first depiction of the flag made by Betsy Ross and its evolution with the adaption of the US gaining more and more states. Mid to late 1800s the American flag took changes ever so slightly to the current 50-star flag from each state developed in the US. The year 1897 was the year the US really defined and made the flag a symbol and made plans to protect the integrity of the flag. The red and white thirteen stripes represent the thirteen colonies, white signifies purity and red signifies hardness, and the 50 white stars union within the blue field represent a new constellation and the blue signifies justice, according to ushistory.org about Betsy Ross and the American Flag and What do the colors of the Flag mean? on USFlag.org. Before 9/11 the flag basically meant a military sign or a convenient marking of American territory, but since the September 11 attacks in 2001, the flag now traditionally means a sense of Americanism and to praise what is to be American. Today the flag means and has meant a symbol of freedom in America. The purpose of "Old Glory" nickname represents how old and "glorious" the flag is and "Stars and Stripes" represents a more literal meaning. The controversy between the flag and freedom of speech is how some people find declaration of the flag as retail purposes disrespectful because of how sacred the flag is to most and how widespread the value is.