Definition
The official national banner of the United States, established and governed by federal statute. As a legal term, "flag of the United States" refers to the specific symbol defined and regulated by Congress, carrying legal significance in contexts ranging from admiralty and jurisdiction to federal criminal law protecting the flag from desecration or misuse.
The flag's design is fixed by statute: thirteen horizontal stripes, alternating red and white, representing the original thirteen colonies; and a blue canton (the "union") bearing one white star for each state admitted to the Union. The number of stars increases automatically by operation of law upon the admission of each new state, with the addition taking effect on the following July 4th.
As a legal object, the flag serves several distinct functions:
1. Jurisdictional marker: A vessel flying the U.S. flag asserts American nationality and subjects the ship and its crew to U.S. law. In admiralty, the flag flown determines the law applicable to conduct aboard a vessel on the high seas.
2. Symbol of sovereignty: The flag's presence marks federal territory, federal courts, military installations, and official government functions. Its use or misuse in those contexts carries legal consequences.
3. Subject of federal protection: Federal statutes have at various times regulated the mutilation, desecration, or commercial exploitation of the flag. The constitutional limits of those statutes have been the subject of significant litigation.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): The national flag of the United States; the Stars and Stripes; the Star-Spangled Banner. Commonly used as a cultural and patriotic symbol.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): A flag is defined as a cloth bearing a device or devices, usually attached by one edge to a staff or halyard, used as an ensign, standard, or signal.
The gap between common and legal meaning is navigational rather than definitional. Ordinary usage treats the flag as a symbol — cultural, emotional, political. Legal usage treats it as a defined object with a precise statutory description, and as a jurisdictional and evidentiary fact. In admiralty cases, what flag a vessel flies is a question of law and fact with consequences for which nation's courts may exercise jurisdiction. In criminal prosecutions for flag-related offenses, whether the object in question meets the statutory definition of "flag of the United States" has been a live issue.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encounter "flag of the United States" in at least three distinct bodies of law, and conflating them produces confusion.
First, admiralty and maritime law. The flag flown by a vessel is the primary indicator of that vessel's nationality and the law governing conduct aboard it. Research in 19th- and early 20th-century admiralty materials will treat the flag as a near-absolute indicator of nationality; later sources complicate this with concepts like flags of convenience. When reading historical admiralty cases, pay attention to whether a court is relying on the flag actually flown or the vessel's registered nationality — these were not always the same, and the distinction matters for jurisdiction.
Second, federal statutory history. The original flag act (1818) is the ancestor of current law codified at 4 U.S.C. §§ 1–2. Researchers reading Bouvier or Black's will encounter citations to Rev. St. §§ 1791–1792 and to 3 Story's U.S. Laws 1667 — these are the same statute at different stages of codification. Neither historical dictionary captures the full arc of flag legislation, including the Flag Protection Acts of the late 20th century and the First Amendment litigation those statutes generated.
Third, constitutional law. The Supreme Court's decisions in Texas v. Johnson (1989) and United States v. Eichman (1990) established that burning or desecrating the flag as political protest is protected expression under the First Amendment. This constitutional overlay is entirely absent from the historical dictionaries, which were compiled before that litigation. Any researcher using Black's or Bouvier's for flag-related criminal or regulatory questions must supplement with post-1989 constitutional doctrine.
Watch also for the distinction between the flag as a physical object and flag-like imagery. Some federal statutes and regulations prohibit use of "any flag, standard, colors, or ensign" resembling the U.S. flag — a broader category than the statutory definition of the flag itself. Trademark and advertising regulations create a parallel track that intersects with but does not duplicate the core flag statutes.
Historical Dictionary Support
Both Black's and Bouvier's reproduce nearly identical text from the Flag Act of April 4, 1818 — the provision establishing thirteen stripes and a star for each state, with new stars added on each July 4th following a state's admission. This is useful as a baseline but represents only the statutory origin. Neither dictionary addresses the flag's role in admiralty jurisdiction in depth within this entry (that treatment appears in their admiralty and maritime sections), and neither anticipates the constitutional questions that would dominate flag law in the late 20th century.
Bouvier's citation to "3 Story, U. S. Laws 1667" and Black's citation to "Rev. St. §§ 1791, 1792" refer to the same underlying 1818 statute at different points of compilation. Researchers should not treat these as separate authorities. Black's truncated excerpt suggests the entry was cut in reproduction; the full statutory text adds the provision for adding stars upon new state admissions and specifies the July 4th effective date for additions.
Neither dictionary addresses flag desecration statutes, which proliferated at the state level in the late 19th century and federally in the 20th — a significant gap for any researcher working in that area.
Jurisdictional Note
The design and legal status of the national flag is exclusively federal. State flag-protection statutes existed historically but were largely invalidated or rendered unenforceable following Texas v. Johnson and United States v. Eichman. Researchers encountering state flag statutes in historical sources should verify current enforceability before drawing conclusions about present law.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Conspiracy to Defraud the United States (18 USC 371) — The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia (relevant for federal criminal statutes protecting the flag and the general framework of federal protective legislation)
Birthright Citizenship — The Fourteenth Amendment and United States v. Wong Kim Ark — The Law Mind Constitutional Law Encyclopedia (relevant for the broader constitutional context of national symbols and federal citizenship, including the intersection of sovereignty, nationality, and federal law)