I saw a wide angle photo of the inauguration ceremonies in today’s paper. Something struck me as odd. In the background, above the podium, were hung five giant US flags.
The one in the center was a contemporary 50-star version. The two on the ends were what I’ll call “1776-style” with a ring of 13 stars and the normal red and white stripes. But the second and fourth flags were unusual: they had 28 stars, not 50.
So I did a little research in a flag book I have. I should have known it! The US flag was redesigned with 28 stars when Texas came into the Union. (Forgive me if this was common knowledge mentioned by inaugural commentators. I did not watch the ceremony.)
As someone who is sick of having Texas and God (… am I being redundant? …) shoved down my throat by this administration, I naturally wanted to up-chuck.
But then I thought, Hold on. Maybe this is customary, as a subtle courtesy to the person being inaugurated. Maybe they always hang the flag that denotes the entry of the new president’s state at his inuaguration.
So that’s my question – is this how it is always done?
Funny, but technically incorrect. The USA as currently defined didn’t exist until the Constitution was ratified by a certain number of states. I believe it was nine, so the first Stars and Stripes would have had thirteen stripes and 9 stars.
Absolute beat me to the punch, but yeah. Here’s a picture of the 1993 inaugural with 25-star flags. Oddly, though, this site claims the 25-star flag was not symmetric, so I don’t know what’s up with that.
And consider my vomit held. But, being an obnoxious NYer, seeing *anybody else’s * flag up there disgusts me. In fact, at my inauguration I’ll be pissed that I’ll have to share my “state flag” with those twelve other colonial-era coattail riders! [Big grinny here.]
If you dig through the history on FOTW, you’ll find that it wasn’t until 1912 that the pattern of stars was officially specified as well as the number. Before then, different civilian flag manufacturers arranged them in different patterns (the military specified patterns that were not binding on civilian flags).
I’ve seen two different styles of 15-star flags (which state was that? Tennessee?) One flag had a 3x5 grid, and the other one had the original circle of 13 stars, with two more stuck in the center.
When states got admitted in batches, they sometimes skipped numbers later on, too, so some of the later states caould get annoyed, too. Apparently, Vermont (14th), states 16-19, 22, and 39-42 would have to share “their” flags.
Note that Vermont and Kentucky would have stripes added for them on the 15 star / 15 stripe flag. It’s a pity somebody realized that was going to become unwieldy. We could have a pin-striped flag with 50 of them.
Actually, the numbers I gave you were for numbers of stars skipped. Kentucky (15), and states 20, 23 and 43 (I’m too lazy to look these up) have to “share” as well.
(I wish we could edit. Please ignore that extra “too”.)
As a Delawarean (note the authoritative spelling, FYI, zev) I would probably place the 1787 flag in one spot and either the Delaware state flag or the Sussex County flag (or, what the hell, the Air Force flag) in the other slot. Since we only have three counties, we retain an absurd amount of pride in them.
