What does blue represent?

Blue on the United States flag traditionally represents vigilance, perseverance, and justice. As with the other colors, this symbolic meaning is not stated in the Flag Resolution of June 14, 1777, but is taken from Charles Thomson's June 20, 1782 report to the Continental Congress explaining the Great Seal of the United States. In Thomson's account the colors stood for purity and innocence (white), hardiness and valor (red), and vigilance, perseverance, and justice (blue, the heraldic color of the chief). By long tradition, official usage, and curriculum guidance, those meanings have been extended to the flag, and they appear in USCIS naturalization preparation materials, presidential proclamations, and civics textbooks.

Vigilance referred in eighteenth-century usage to watchful attention to danger and to the duties of public office, including the responsibility of citizens and officials to guard against corruption and tyranny. Perseverance meant steadfastness in the face of difficulty, the determination to carry through long and hard tasks such as winning independence, ratifying the Constitution, and building a new federal government from scratch. Justice meant the impartial administration of law, equal treatment under the rules, and the protection of rights against arbitrary power; it was the central promise of the Constitution, named in its Preamble, and it became the watchword of the federal judiciary established in Article III.

The blue canton, the rectangular field in the upper hoist corner of the flag that bears 50 white five-pointed stars, occupies the position of honor on the flag, and its specifications are fixed by Executive Order 10834 of August 21, 1959 in proportions of seven stripes high and approximately 40 percent of the flag's fly length. The official shade is Old Glory Blue (Pantone 282 C; FED-STD-595 number 35044), a deep navy chosen to contrast with the white stars and the red and white stripes.

Blue also appears on the Great Seal in the chief above the shield, on the Presidential Seal, on military unit colors, on the campaign and Combat Action ribbons of the armed services, and on the suits and bunting used at official ceremonies. The phrase the color of the chief in Thomson's report is a heraldic term referring to the upper section of a shield, where blue holds the position of greatest honor. By choosing blue for that position on both the seal and the flag, the Founders signaled that vigilance, perseverance, and justice are the highest civic virtues and the supports on which the rest of the design rests.