What are the colors of the flag?
Answer
Red, white, and blue
Explanation
The colors of the United States flag are red, white, and blue. The flag carries seven red horizontal stripes alternating with six white stripes, and a blue rectangular canton in the upper hoist corner with 50 white five-pointed stars. These three colors have been the official flag colors since the Continental Congress's Flag Resolution of June 14, 1777.
The shades are precisely specified for federal use: Old Glory Red, Old Glory White, and Old Glory Blue, with exact specifications set out in U.S. Department of Defense color standards (currently FED-STD-595 numbers 31136 for red, 27875 for white, and 35044 for blue) and corresponding Pantone equivalents (Pantone 193 C for red and 282 C for blue).
The colors did not have officially assigned meanings on the flag itself in 1777, but Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress, explained the same colors on the Great Seal in his June 20, 1782 report to Congress: white signifies purity and innocence; red signifies hardiness and valor; and blue, the color of the chief, signifies vigilance, perseverance, and justice. That description has been carried over by tradition to the flag and is taught in civics curricula and used in proclamations.
The choice of red, white, and blue echoed the colors of the British Union Jack that the colonies had grown up under and the colors used on many British military ensigns, but the arrangement was distinctly American. These three colors recur throughout American patriotic iconography: on the Great Seal, on military unit insignia, on the seals of the executive departments, on the official flags of all 50 states (each state flag includes some combination of these colors or features them prominently), and on bunting used at political conventions, parades, naturalization ceremonies, and Independence Day celebrations.
Federal law also fixes the color of the obverse and reverse sides of the flag and prohibits the use of mismatched or improvised flags in official ceremonies. The Flag Code, codified at 4 U.S.C. sections 1 through 10, addresses how the flag should be displayed but does not prescribe punishment for misuse, since the Supreme Court held in Texas v. Johnson (1989) that flag desecration is constitutionally protected speech.
The colors red, white, and blue therefore identify the United States visually around the world, on uniforms, ships, embassies, athletic teams, and the wing tips of Air Force One, and they form the visual baseline of American patriotic display.
Why this matters for your test
Identifying the flag's colors is a core piece of naturalization civics. Red, white, and blue are not arbitrary: they tie back to the founding-era Great Seal description and to symbolic associations of valor, purity, and justice.
Knowing the colors and their accepted meanings helps an applicant read American patriotic iconography across military, civic, and ceremonial contexts.
Source: USCIS 128 Civics Questions (2025)
