How Did America Get a 23 Star Flag? History Worth Knowing
America’s Story As Told Through Her Flags. This series is brought to you by Colonial Flag, America’s premier flag maker and the exclusive partner of Freedom 250.
The History
This flag added stars for Alabama and Maine. It became a symbol of “Manifest Destiny” and of a nation trying to maintain political balance while growing at a breakneck pace. Explorers carried the 23-star flag as they mapped the western wilderness.
States Added
- 1819 – Alabama
- 1820 – Maine
Manufacturing
Flag makers began experimenting with “staggered” row patterns to fit 23 stars into the union box. Without an executive order on placement, designs ranged from simple rows to large circles with central stars.
Flag Protocol
During this era, it became common for post offices and courthouses in New Frontier states to fly the flag daily, helping citizens feel connected to the federal government.
This flag did not descend from the heavens or arrive by royal decree. It was stitched together by revolutionaries who bet everything they had — their homes, their names, their necks — on the wild idea that free people could govern themselves. Behind every stripe stands a generation that bled for it; behind every star, a people who claimed their own destiny. That inheritance is now ours to guard, and nothing would betray the men and women who built it more than our indifference. Learn the story. Live worthy of it. Pass it on. Discover the full story with our partners at Colonial Flag.
-The Editors
