On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed the first Flag Act, creating an official symbol for the young United States. The resolution declared that the American flag would have 13 alternating red and white stripes, representing the 13 colonies, and 13 white stars on a blue field, described as “a new constellation.” That phrase is beautiful because it says so much. America was not only creating a flag. It was creating an identity. The stars represented unity, hope, and the idea that something new had appeared in history. The stripes remembered the colonies that had come together to form one nation.