[EmailPoster]

Why 7 red and 6 white stripes...

Originally Posted by lovemygrandkids

Good Morning,

I thought I read somewhere the reason for 7 red and 6 white stripes. I
know that the total number stands for the 13 original colonies.
However, my question is why not 6 red and 7 white? I hope you
understand my question. I remember reading that there was a reason for
choosing 7 red stripes...not 6; and vice versa. It had something to do
with symbolism and what the red represented.

Thanks for pondering my question.

Bianca

[sarahw]

Bianca,

I don't think there really was a reason for seven red stripes and six white stripes. Many people have tried to attach symbolism to the colors that simply wasn't there when the flag was designed.

Some say George Washington remarked that the red represented the mother country and the white was separating the red, a symbol of liberty. The theory, then, is that the white is intersecting the red so that's why red is on the top and bottom.

Other symbolism attached to the flag includes that red is blood or courage and white is purity or innocence. Maybe you need more courage than you need purity when you're building a nation? OK, that was a joke, but I think the number of stripes of each color maybe can't be called a coincidence, there's no historic record of what the designers were thinking.

Sarah