# Stars on US flag if we have 51 states **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 5, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-us-flag-if-we-have-51-states/587923 "2011-07-05T19:13:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-us-flag-if-we-have-51-states/587923/21 "2012-06-17T16:23:49Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I realize this post is a year old, but I feel that I must correct it. Alaska and Hawaii were both admitted into the Union in 1959, Alaska on January 3, and Hawaii on August 21. Alaska got its star first, resulting in a [49 star flag](http://flagnetwork.com/49star.gif) with seven rows of seven stars. Hawaii, although having become a state in 1959, didn’t receive its star on the flag until July 4, 1960. The law says the flag changes on July 4. Therefore, the 49-star flag came in on July 4, 1959, and the 50-star flag on July 4, 1960. This was intentionally arranged as a favor to the flag industry. ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-us-flag-if-we-have-51-states/587923/22 "2012-06-19T15:30:19Z")
> [@Rico](#): > > One that stuck out for me was the 33 star flag. President Lincoln refused to remove the stars for the Confederate States that broke away. Hardly surprising, given that the whole premise of the thing was that they weren’t allowed to break away in the first place. It’d look pretty weird to be killing people to “preserve the union” under a flag that acknowledged the sundering of said union. Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-us-flag-if-we-have-51-states/587923/23 "2012-06-19T16:31:28Z")
When I was a teenager I worked at a small conference facility and once day there was a home auction going on. One of the items was a medium sized box with some old clothes and an American flag. No one was bidding, so I raised my hand and won it for about $15. When I got home and unfurled the flag, it was huge - at least six feet from top to bottom and longer from side to side – and it only had 45 stars. I later took it to college and it covered the entire wall of my dorm room. I still have it in a box in my attic. It has a few tears and one or two patches, but I’ve always meant to get it appraised and have never gotten around to it. ---
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-us-flag-if-we-have-51-states/587923/24 "2012-06-19T18:12:05Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Another reason the Ft. Sumter flag might have been out-of-date is that you can properly fly a US flag with any number of stars indefinitely, until the thing is just plain worn out. It then should be disposed of “in dignified manner.” The 34 hours of artillery bombardment before they surrendered might have had something to do with it… ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-us-flag-if-we-have-51-states/587923/25 "2012-06-19T18:35:22Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > In a previous discussion of this subject, some people said that neither major US party will accept just one state being added to the union. They would only agree to two states added, one with a majority of the population favouring the Democrats, and the other Republican. It is therefore highly unlikely that there will ever be a 51 star flag, though there might plausibly be a 52 star one. > > I don’t know anything about US politics, so I can’t say if that’s right or not. But it’s what I’ve heard. It’s pretty good analysis. Each state gets two Senators, so adding a state can mean a significant political power shift. It’s similar, I’m ashamed to say, to the practice of adding one slave and one free state in our earlier history to preserve that political balance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-us-flag-if-we-have-51-states/587923.md?page=1)