FORTISVEX 46 Star U.S. Flag 5x8 Feet Nylon - Made in USA with Brass Grommets

46 Star U.S. Flag History

Oklahoma entered the Union on November 16, 1907, as the forty-sixth state. President Theodore Roosevelt issued the admission proclamation after voters in Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory approved statehood that September. Oklahoma’s star became official on July 4, 1908, and the forty-six-star flag remained the national design through July 3, 1912. The two dates mark different events: the establishment of the state and its later representation in the official flag. National Archives: Oklahoma statehood; Smithsonian: flag chronology.

The new state brought together Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory, two jurisdictions with different historical origins. Congressional records preserved by the National Archives place the statehood process within a longer history of Native American removal, the reduction of Indian Territory, and the opening of land to settlement. Oklahoma Territory had been formally organized in 1890. The legislation and petitions leading to statehood show that the forty-sixth star was the result of a complex political process, with consequences for the people and nations already living in the region. National Archives: territorial maps and statehood records.

The flag is not, however, a map of those former territorial boundaries. Like other numbered United States flags, its canton gives the states equal visual representation through individual stars. The pictured arrangement places forty-six stars in six rows of eight, seven, eight, eight, seven, and eight. Thirteen red and white stripes remain unchanged. This row pattern describes the gallery image; it does not identify a particular military unit, government building, or surviving antique as the model.

The next official change added two stars together. New Mexico became a state on January 6, 1912, and Arizona followed on February 14. Since both admissions preceded Independence Day, the national design moved from forty-six to forty-eight stars on July 4. There was no intervening official forty-seven-star period in the Smithsonian’s chronology. This sequence makes the forty-six-star flag especially useful for explaining why the official national count did not always increase one star at a time, even though each admitted state received its own star. National Park Service: New Mexico and Arizona admission dates; Smithsonian: forty-six- and forty-eight-star periods.

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