<P> The Flag Resolution did not specify any particular arrangement, number of points, nor orientation for the stars and the arrangement or whether the flag had to have seven red stripes and six white ones or vice versa . The appearance was up to the maker of the flag . Some flag makers arranged the stars into one big star, in a circle or in rows and some replaced a state's star with its initial . One arrangement features 13 five - pointed stars arranged in a circle, with the stars arranged pointing outwards from the circle (as opposed to up), the so - called Betsy Ross flag . This flag, however, is more likely a flag used for celebrations of anniversaries of the nation's birthday . Experts have dated the earliest known example of this flag to be 1792 in a painting by John Trumbull . </P> <P> Despite the 1777 resolution, the early years of American independence featured many different flags . Most were individually crafted rather than mass - produced . While there are many examples of 13 - star arrangements, some of those flags included blue stripes as well as red and white . Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, in a letter dated October 3, 1778, to Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, described the American flag as consisting of "13 stripes, alternately red, white, and blue, a small square in the upper angle, next the flag staff, is a blue field, with 13 white stars, denoting a new Constellation ." John Paul Jones used a variety of 13 - star flags on his U.S. Navy ships including the well - documented 1779 flags of the Serapis and the Alliance . The Serapis flag had three rows of eight - pointed stars with stripes that were red, white, and blue . The flag for the Alliance, however, had five rows of eight - pointed stars with 13 red and white stripes, and the white stripes were on the outer edges . Both flags were documented by the Dutch government in October 1779, making them two of the earliest known flags of 13 stars . </P> <P> Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey, a naval flag designer, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, designed the 1777 flag while he was the Chairman of the Continental Navy Board's Middle Department, sometime between his appointment to that position in November 1776 and the time that the flag resolution was adopted in June 1777 . The Navy Board was under the Continental Marine Committee . Not only did Hopkinson claim that he designed the U.S. flag, but he also claimed that he designed a flag for the U.S. Navy . Hopkinson was the only person to have made such a claim during his own lifetime, when he sent a letter and several bills to Congress for his work . These claims are documented in the Journals of the Continental Congress and George Hasting's biography of Hopkinson . Hopkinson initially wrote a letter to Congress, via the Continental Board of Admiralty, on May 25, 1780 . In this letter, he asked for a "Quarter Cask of the Public Wine" as payment for designing the U.S. flag, the seal for the Admiralty Board, the seal for the Treasury Board, Continental currency, the Great Seal of the United States, and other devices . However, in three subsequent bills to Congress, Hopkinson asked to be paid in cash, but he did not list his U.S. flag design . Instead, he asked to be paid for designing the "great Naval Flag of the United States" in the first bill; the "Naval Flag of the United States" in the second bill; and "the Naval Flag of the States" in the third, along with the other items . The flag references were generic terms for the naval ensign that Hopkinson had designed, that is, a flag of seven red stripes and six white ones . The predominance of red stripes made the naval flag more visible against the sky on a ship at sea . By contrast, Hopkinson's flag for the United States had seven white stripes, and six red ones--in reality, six red stripes laid on a white background . Hopkinson's sketches have not been found, but we can make these conclusions because Hopkinson incorporated different stripe arrangements in the Admiralty (naval) Seal that he designed in the Spring of 1780 and the Great Seal of the United States that he proposed at the same time . His Admiralty Seal had seven red stripes; whereas, his second U.S. Seal proposal had seven white ones . Hopkinson's flag for the Navy is the one that the Nation preferred as the national flag . Remnants of Hopkinson's U.S. flag of seven white stripes can be found in the Great Seal of the United States and the President's seal . When Hopkinson was chairman of the Navy Board, his position was like that of today's Secretary of the Navy . The payment was not made, however, because it was determined he had already received a salary as a member of Congress . This contradicts the legend of the Betsy Ross flag, which suggests that she sewed the first Stars and Stripes flag by request of the government in the Spring of 1776 . Furthermore, a letter from the War Board to George Washington on May 10, 1779, documents that there was still no design established for a national flag for the Army's use in battle . </P> <P> The origin of the stars and stripes design has been muddled by a story disseminated by the descendants of Betsy Ross . The apocryphal story credits Betsy Ross for sewing the first flag from a pencil sketch handed to her by George Washington . No evidence for this exists either in the diaries of George Washington nor in the records of the Continental Congress . Indeed, nearly a century passed before Ross' grandson, William Canby, first publicly suggested the story in 1870 . By her family's own admission, Ross ran an upholstery business, and she had never made a flag as of the supposed visit in June 1776 . Furthermore, her grandson admitted that his own search through the Journals of Congress and other official records failed to find corroboration of his grandmother's story . </P>

When was the stars and stripes flag created
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