Thirteen stripes for the original colonies that formed the nation and one star for each state have been the pattern for Old Glory since 1818. Similar flags were used as far back as 1776. The United States flag has had stars added 26 times.

National Anthem

O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, In full glory reflected now shines on the stream; 'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner, O long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! O thus be it ever when free men shall stand Between their loved homes and the war's desolation! Blessed with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just, And this be our motto: "In God is our trust." And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.