What the Colors of the U.S. Flag Mean

The Flag Resolution of June 14, 1777 reads in full: 'Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.' Design only. No symbolism assigned to any color.

Five years later, on June 20, 1782, Secretary of the Continental Congress Charles Thomson submitted his written description of the newly adopted Great Seal. That is the primary source document. Thomson explicitly noted that the seal's colors 'are those used in the flag of the United States' — then defined each one. Because he made that connection himself, his definitions carry directly to the flag.

No subsequent flag law added color symbolism. The U.S. Flag Code, codified in 1942, governs how the flag is displayed and treated — not what it means. The State Department, USA.gov, and other federal sources now state these meanings as applying to the flag, citing the Great Seal origin. They are officially recognized. They are not derived from flag legislation.

The 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies — seven red, six white. Congress fixed that count permanently in 1818. New states would be marked by stars, not additional stripes; the stripe count has not changed in over 200 years.

The 50 stars represent the 50 states. The current arrangement has been official since July 4, 1960, when Hawaii's star was added. The 1777 resolution called the original 13 stars 'a new constellation' — deliberate language that framed the United States as something genuinely new, not a renamed colony or a continuation of prior governance. The official flags of all 50 states carry their own design histories, each adopted independently of the national flag's 1777 resolution.

The 1777 resolution gave no explanation. The colors were not selected for symbolic purpose — they were inherited. Red, white, and blue already appeared in Continental Army regimental colors and in the Grand Union Flag, the pre-independence flag that incorporated the British Union Jack. The National Archives notes that the flag's colors are the same as those in the British flag, which was the dominant visual reference for colonial-era Americans.

The colors came first; the meaning was attached afterward. Thomson's 1782 definitions were describing colors already in place, not prescribing new ones. A related question — whether the U.S. maintains a separate peace flag vs. war flag — is also rooted in this gap between design and interpretation. Federal law recognizes neither distinction.

A second layer of meaning circulates widely in patriotic and commercial writing. Red picks up blood shed in war, sacrifice, and devotion. White expands to freedom and unity. Blue takes on loyalty. None of these appear in Thomson's document or any other official U.S. government source — they are cultural interpretations built up over two centuries of use.

These readings are not wrong as expressions of what the flag means culturally. But Thomson's 1782 text — as cited by the State Department and USA.gov — is what the official record contains. The popular expansions are not in it.