Monitor Quiz: It's a Grand Old Flag

On June 14, 1777, Congress resolved: 'that the flag of the 13 United States be 13 stripes, alternately red and white, that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.'

Since then, the American flag has had a long, proud history. How much of it do you know?

1. A bill presented to Congress for 'the design of the great seal of the United States, a treasury seal, the design for the flag' gives credence to one person's claim to be the designer of the first American flag. Who was this person?

A. Francis Hopkinson

B. Betsy Ross

C. 0.L. Glory

2. Because he was given command of the ship Ranger on June 14, 1777, this Revolutionary War hero stated, 'the flag and I are twins born the same day and same hour.' Less than a year later, the Stars and Stripes, flying from the Ranger, were saluted in the first formal recognition of the American flag by a foreign power (France). Who was this hero?

A. John Stark

B. Robert Fulton

C. John Paul Jones

3. When Francis Scott Key wrote 'The Defense of Fort McHenry' in 1814 (we know it as 'The Star-Spangled Banner'), how many 'bright stars' adorned the flag?

A. 12

B. 15

C. 18

4. During the American Civil War (1861-65) there were:

A. Fewer stars on the Union flag than there had been in 1860

B. More stars than in 1860

C. The number of stars did not change

5. The official proportions of the US flag are that it be 1.9 times as long as it is wide. In flag talk, width and length are:

A. Truck and burgee

B. Staff and reeve

C. Hoist and fly

6. The Pledge of Allegiance was first used in public schools in what year?

A. 1892

B. 1918

C. 1942

7. A famous photograph from World War II (later reproduced as a bronze statue in Washington) shows US marines raising the flag on:

A. Iwo Jima

B. Guam

C. Okinawa

8. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr. planted the US flag on the moon. Photographs show the flag 'waving,' but because there is no breeze on the moon, this could not be. The flag was actually mounted in a frame made of:

A. wood

B. plastic

C. aluminum

9. The largest American flag, 255 by 505 feet, was unfurled on May 1, 1996. It was suspended from cables on the:

A. Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, N.Y.

B. Hoover Dam, Arizona-Nevada border

C. Washington Monument, Washington, D.C.

10. Which president signed the bill making June 14 National Flag Day?

A. Theodore Roosevelt

B. Woodrow Wilson

C. Harry Truman

Answers: 1. A; 2. C; 3. B; 4. B; 5. C; 6. A; 7. A; 8. C; 9. B; 10. C.