What is the flag of the United States?
Answer
The Stars and Stripes
Explanation
The flag of the United States is officially called the Stars and Stripes, and is also known as Old Glory and the Star-Spangled Banner. Its design is fixed by federal law in title 4 of the U.S. Code: thirteen alternating horizontal stripes of red and white representing the original colonies that declared independence in 1776, and a blue rectangular canton in the upper hoist corner bearing fifty white five-pointed stars representing the fifty states currently in the Union. The stripes alternate red on top and bottom, seven red and six white, in the pattern set by the Flag Resolution that the Continental Congress passed on June 14, 1777.
The fifty-star canton has been the design since July 4, 1960, the first Independence Day after Hawaii joined the Union as the fiftieth state on August 21, 1959, with Alaska having joined seven months earlier on January 3, 1959. The flag has gone through 27 official designs as states have been admitted, and a new star is added on the July 4 following each admission. The proportion is fixed at a hoist-to-fly ratio of 10 to 19, and the canton extends across the top seven stripes.
Standards for display, folding, half-staff observance, and respectful retirement of worn flags are set out in the U.S. Flag Code, codified at 4 U.S.C. sections 1 through 10, originally adopted by the National Flag Conference in 1923 and given statutory form by Congress on June 22, 1942. The Flag Code is a guide for civilian conduct and not a criminal statute. The Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. Johnson (1989) and United States v. Eichman (1990) that flag desecration is protected expression under the First Amendment, striking down state and federal flag-protection laws.
The most famous depictions of the flag include the original 30-by-42-foot garrison flag that flew over Fort McHenry in September 1814 and inspired Francis Scott Key's poem (now displayed at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History), and the flag raised by U.S. Marines on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945, captured by photographer Joe Rosenthal in one of the most reproduced images of the twentieth century. The current 50-star design has now flown longer than any previous version, surpassing the 48-star flag (1912 to 1959) on July 4, 2007.
Why this matters for your test
Recognizing the Stars and Stripes is a baseline civics requirement and a daily marker of American identity. The flag flies on every federal building, school, post office, and naturalization ceremony.
Knowing its name, design, and history grounds an applicant in the symbol they will pledge allegiance to as a new citizen and connects the visible emblem to the constitutional order it stands for.
Source: USCIS 128 Civics Questions (2025)
