# Have you heard this origin story of the 50 star US flag?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-this-origin-story-of-the-50-star-us-flag/967519>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [July 6, 2022, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-this-origin-story-of-the-50-star-us-flag/967519 "2022-07-06T18:53:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-this-origin-story-of-the-50-star-us-flag/967519/41 "2022-07-11T19:03:00Z")

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Reply hazy, try again.

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**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-this-origin-story-of-the-50-star-us-flag/967519/42 "2022-07-11T19:30:31Z")

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> [@Asuka](#):
>
> Somebody needs do a similar story and investigate where the hell the “Canada burned down the White House” story came from and why so many Canadians (and Americans) believe it.

The reason is simple - it’s not entirely made up. Canada wasn’t yet autonomous of Britain (which didn’t occur until the 20th century), but the War of 1812 and the burning of the White House did happen and it occurred partly as retaliation for US action in Canada (and they’re still quite rightly proud they turned back our invasion attempt). It’s closer to a matter of very loose interpretation to say Canadians were responsible for the burning rather than the British.

That’s opposed to the flag story, which was largely exaggerated/fabricated out of whole cloth, as it were.

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**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-this-origin-story-of-the-50-star-us-flag/967519/43 "2022-07-12T08:11:07Z")

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It’s never framed as that though, it’s always literally framed as “Canadian soldiers marched down from Canada and burned the White House directly”

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**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-this-origin-story-of-the-50-star-us-flag/967519/44 "2022-07-12T08:27:48Z")

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> [@DesertDog](#):
>
> Were there any 49-star flags manufactured in the year or so between Hawaii and Alaska’s admittance?

Yes, of course. The Simpsons already did it:

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/EM3NSTbi4OQ/hqdefault.jpg "abe simpson says it all video by paperclip321 - Photobucket.mp4") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM3NSTbi4OQ)

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**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2022, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-this-origin-story-of-the-50-star-us-flag/967519/45 "2022-07-14T04:53:32Z")

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They’re still making and selling them. They are, after all, real American flags from a particular historical moment. Older designs don’t expire.

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