Thirty-Six Star Flag
Thirty-Six Star United States Flag
Color woodcut on linen,
between 1865-1867
Prints & Photographs
Division (2.12)
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One can imagine that this American flag printed as a color woodcut
on linen, celebrates the spirit of reunification in the heady
days after the Civil War. It was created between the time in which
Nevada became the thirty-sixth state on October 31, 1864, and
the addition of Nebraska to the United States on March 1, 1867.
Although the Continental Congress passed a resolution that the
flag consist of alternating red and white stripes and white stars
on a blue ground on June 14, 1777, these design elements were
used in a variety of permutations until 1912, when an executive
order was issued that established the flag's current proportions.
The thirteen red-and-white stripes represent the original thirteen
colonies of Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, Rhode
Island, Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire, North Carolina,
South Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, and the
white stars stand for the states of the union. Throughout its
history the flag has remained one of America's most powerful national
symbols.
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