FORTISVEX 43 Star U.S. Flag 5x8 Feet Nylon - Made in USA with Brass Grommets

43 Star U.S. Flag History

The forty-three-star flag became official on July 4, 1890, replacing a national design with thirty-eight stars. Its five new stars represented North Dakota and South Dakota, admitted together on November 2, 1889; Montana, admitted November 8; Washington, admitted November 11; and Idaho, admitted July 3, 1890. The Library of Congress documents this concentrated period of statehood, when the former Dakota Territory became two states and three other territories entered the Union. Library of Congress: the northern western states.

The timing explains why the official sequence appears to skip several numbers. New stars were added on the Fourth of July following admission, rather than on each statehood day. All five admissions therefore fed into one flag change. The Congressional Record’s account of Montana’s centennial describes the transition from thirty-eight stars to forty-three as the national recognition of these states together. The count represents the entire Union, not Idaho alone, even though Idaho was the last state admitted before that particular Independence Day. Congressional Record: Montana’s star; Smithsonian: the July flag-change rule.

Flags made for statehood celebrations could anticipate a different outcome. Washington’s Department of Enterprise Services describes a surviving forty-two-star flag associated with the state’s 1889 celebrations and explains that forty-two never became an official national count because Idaho entered the Union the day before July 4. Such artifacts are genuine evidence of contemporary celebration, but their existence does not alter the official chronology. The distinction is useful when comparing commemorative flags with a numbered sequence of authorized national designs. Washington State: the forty-two-star celebration flag.

The pictured forty-three-star canton uses six horizontal rows: eight stars across the top and seven in each of the remaining five rows. Thirteen alternating red and white stripes complete the design. Its official period ended on July 3, 1891. Wyoming had joined on July 10, 1890, six days after the forty-three-star flag took effect, so its star waited until the next July Fourth. The forty-three-star flag thus records one year of a rapidly changing national map, not the date of a single state’s admission. Smithsonian: forty-three- and forty-four-star periods.

Explore the States Represented in This Flag

• North Dakota history · Shop North Dakota flags
• South Dakota history · Shop South Dakota flags
• Montana history · Shop Montana flags
• Washington history · Shop Washington flags
• Idaho history · Shop Idaho flags