# Will the United States flag ever change in my life time? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 21, 2006, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628 "2006-05-21T13:37:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628/21 "2006-05-22T23:01:31Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > we could no longer sing “Fifty nifty United States, etc.” Sob! Fifty-one (nifty, son!) United States… ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628/22 "2006-05-23T01:44:10Z")
I wonder, were people particularly curious or amused or annoyed or befuddled when it went from 48 stars to the current 50 over a year? (1959-1960) Because, y’know, the 48-star flag applied from 1912 to 1959 - 47 years. Before 1912 the average lifespan of an official number of stars was something like 5 years (there were years when 4 new states were admitted at a time). So that would have been the first time you would have had a large majority of the nation having never seen the US flag change at all, or knowing the same flag from childhood to middle age. (Apparently in the 19th century there was no uniform official tesselation, so what often happened was that a flag would be made with plenty of free blue space, and the owner would sew on additional stars as news of new states came in in what he felt was the more suitable place; you’d end up with half-rows sticking out at the edge of the field or one row 2 stars longer than any other ) On 4 July 2007, the 50-star flag (officially adopted 4 JUL 1960) will pass the flag of the World Wars to be the longest-serving pattern of the flag of the United States. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_Johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Mrs\_Johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_Johnson)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628/23 "2006-05-23T03:13:11Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > Or Nike, or _McDonalds_, or Coca-Cola, but more likely by Halliburton. 😉 The United States of Obesity! If that happens, I’m leaving the country. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628/24 "2006-05-23T17:59:20Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > I wonder, were people particularly curious or amused or annoyed or befuddled when it went from 48 stars to the current 50 over a year? (1959-1960) > > . I suppose it didn’t faze many people. It’s not as if they couldn’t see Alaskan and Hawaiian statehood coming. Which reminds me, maybe the number of of stars could be revised **downward**. There is, after all, the [Hawaiian Independence Movement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Independence). ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628/25 "2006-05-23T18:28:40Z")
What happens when we annex Canada? i can see at least 8 new states. of course, we won’t take Quebec. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628/26 "2006-05-23T20:58:14Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > What happens when we annex Canada? i can see at least 8 new states. of course, we won’t take Quebec. We don’t want to join you anyway. Sales cochons américains! ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628/27 "2006-05-23T21:01:45Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > What happens when we annex Canada? i can see at least 8 new states. of course, we won’t take Quebec. I was just thinking, what if the Mexican government collapsed and the Mexican people asked to join the US? Would we add 31 states, or just add one big one? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628/28 "2006-05-23T21:34:20Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > I wonder, were people particularly curious or amused or annoyed or befuddled when it went from 48 stars to the current 50 over a year? (1959-1960). You skipped a step – I was born under the 49-star flag, which was in use from July 4, 1959 to July 4, 1960. [Here is a picture](http://www.usflag.org/history/the49starflag.html) of this particular manifestation of Old Glory. Links to earlier U.S. flags are available at the bottom of that page. Note that the number of stripes was 15 on the [Star-Spangled Banner](http://www.usflag.org/history/the15starflag.html) that inspired Francis Scott Key to pen new words to be sung to the tune of [_To Anacreon in Heaven_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Anacreon_in_Heaven). ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628/29 "2006-05-23T21:38:45Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > Why not all of them? There would be something uniquely American about having our flag plastered with more corporate logos than Jeff Gordon’s car. and that, my friend, would be the _Infinite Jest_ ( **by david foster wallace** )… Was there a 49 star then a 50 star flag in 1960? if so i possibly had 2 flag changes so far in my lifetime?!? b.2/25/60 Kudos to our amature vexillographers… 🆒 tsfr ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628/30 "2006-05-23T21:40:16Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > What happens when we annex Canada? i can see at least 8 new states. of course, we won’t take Quebec. But we want the territories, don’t we? Of course, if Canada doesn’t find the three territories worthy of provincehood, maybe we wouldn’t find them worthy of statehood. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628/31 "2006-05-23T21:47:12Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > What happens when we annex Canada? i can see at least 8 new states. of course, we won’t take Quebec. You break it, you bought it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628/32 "2006-05-23T21:55:52Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > You skipped a step – I was born under the 49-star flag, which was in use from July 4, 1959 to July 4, 1960. [Here is a picture](http://www.usflag.org/history/the49starflag.html) of this particular manifestation of Old Glory. Links to earlier U.S. flags are available at the bottom of that page. Note that the number of stripes was 15 on the [Star-Spangled Banner](http://www.usflag.org/history/the15starflag.html) that inspired Francis Scott Key to pen new words to be sung to the tune of [_To Anacreon in Heaven_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Anacreon_in_Heaven). I’ve been looking at the Anacreon In Heaven words to that song, and, unless people emphasised their syllables differently in the 18th century, they really don’t seem to fit the tune very well. Am I imagining things? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628/33 "2006-05-23T23:02:44Z")
I rather doubt we’ll see new stars in our lifetime. What I wouldn’t rule out would be trading the stars in for 50 crosses. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628/34 "2006-05-23T23:04:39Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > What happens when we annex Canada? i can see at least 8 new states. of course, we won’t take Quebec. That makes nine new states. The territories, of course, would simply be added to Texas. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628/35 "2006-05-23T23:48:27Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I’ve been looking at the Anacreon In Heaven words to that song, and, unless people emphasised their syllables differently in the 18th century, they really don’t seem to fit the tune very well. Am I imagining things? At the bottom of the linked Wiki page, click the link to “a capella version by Oak, Ash and Thorn”; it’ll take you to a page where you can fetch a .mp3 file. The arrangement is slightly different but recognizable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-united-states-flag-ever-change-in-my-life-time/357628.md?page=1)