<P> The Continental Navy raised the Colors as the ensign of the fledgling nation in the American War for Independence--likely with the expedient of transforming their previous British red ensigns by adding white stripes--and would use this flag until 1777, when it would form the basis for the subsequent de jure designs . </P> <P> The name "Grand Union" was first applied to the Continental Colors by George Preble in his 1872 history of the American flag . </P> <P> The flag closely resembles the British East India Company flag of the era, and Sir Charles Fawcett argued in 1937 that the company flag inspired the design . Both flags could have been easily constructed by adding white stripes to a British Red Ensign, one of the three maritime flags used throughout the British Empire at the time . However, an East India Company flag could have from nine to 13 stripes, and was not allowed to be flown outside the Indian Ocean . </P> <P> In any case, both the stripes (barry) and the stars (mullets) have precedents in classical heraldry . Mullets were comparatively rare in early modern heraldry, but an example of mullets representing territorial divisions predating the U.S. flag are those in the coat of arms of Valais of 1618, where seven mullets stood for seven districts . </P>

What does the colors mean on the american flag