American Flag History:The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternating with rows of five stars.The design of the flag has been modified 26 times since it was first adopted in 1777. The 48-star version went unchanged for 47 years until the 49-star version became official on July 4, 1959. This was the longest time the flag went unchanged until July 5, 2007, when the 50-star version broke the record.