Stars and Stripes - also called ‘Old Glory’, or ‘Star-spangled Banner’, is the flag of the United States of
America. It consist of white stars (50 from July 4, 1960) on a blue background, with a field of 13 alternate
stripes, 7 red and 6 white. The 50 stars stand for the 50 states of the Union, and the 13 stripes stand for
the original 13 states that signed the Declaration of Independence. After the beginning of the American
Revolution, the first unofficial national flag – known variously as the Grand Union Flag, the Great Union
Flag, or the Cambridge Flag – was hoisted outside Boston, on January 1, 1776, It was hoisted, it appears,
at the behest of General George Washington, whose headquarters were nearby, The flag had seven
red and six white horizontal stripes and, in the background, the British Union Flag (the immediate
predecessor of Union Jack).