What does the flag represent?

The flag of the United States represents the country itself: its people, its territory, its history, its government, and the values its Constitution protects. The flag carries 13 horizontal red and white stripes representing the original 13 colonies that declared independence in 1776, and a blue canton in the upper hoist corner with 50 white five-pointed stars representing the 50 current states. Together those design elements tell the country's central story: a Union that began as 13 colonies and grew through the admission of new states to its current 50, with each state symbolized by its own star and the founding still honored in the stripes.

The flag's colors carry traditional meanings drawn from Charles Thomson's June 20, 1782 explanation of the Great Seal: red represents valor and hardiness, white represents purity and innocence, and blue represents vigilance, perseverance, and justice.

The flag also represents the federal government and its institutions; it flies over every federal building, every U.S. embassy and consulate, every U.S. military post, every public school in many states, every state capitol, and every naturalization ceremony. The flag represents the country's military, since troops carry it into combat, and its veterans, since coffins of those who died in service are draped with the flag and the folded flag is presented to the next of kin.

The flag represents the citizens themselves: the Pledge of Allegiance recites I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, and the national anthem describes the flag's survival of the bombardment of Fort McHenry as a symbol of the country's resilience.

The Constitution and the federal Flag Code (4 U.S.C. sections 1 through 10) set out provisions for display and respect, but the Supreme Court has held in Texas v. Johnson (1989) and United States v. Eichman (1990) that flag desecration is protected speech under the First Amendment. The flag is therefore both the most unifying American symbol (it appears on uniforms, bunting, currency, and on every federal document) and an enduring subject of constitutional debate about loyalty and dissent. For naturalization applicants, the flag is the symbol they will pledge allegiance to as new citizens, and recognizing its meanings helps them participate fully in the rituals of American civic life.