Civics question 121 of 128 65/20 set
Why does the flag have 13 stripes?
2 accepted answers
- (Because there were) 13 original colonies
- (Because the stripes) represent the original colonies
You only need to give one of these. The officer accepts any of them.
Source: official USCIS question list for the 2025 version of the civics test. This site is independent and not affiliated with USCIS.
Background
The flag has thirteen stripes because there were thirteen original colonies, and saying that the stripes represent those colonies is accepted as well. Seven are red and six are white, and the count has been fixed since 1818. It was not always so. An 1795 flag added two stripes for Vermont and Kentucky, making fifteen, and that is the flag Francis Scott Key watched above Fort McHenry when he wrote the national anthem. Congress realized that adding a stripe for every new state would ruin the design, so it returned the stripes to thirteen and put the growth in the stars instead. Keep the pair straight: stripes count the original colonies, stars count the states of today.
This background section is written by US Citizenship Test Practice to explain the civics fact. It is not part of the USCIS question list, and the official answer above is the one to give at the interview.
Where this question sits
It is part of Symbols, inside the Symbols And Holidays section of the test. It is also one of the 20 questions in the 65/20 set, so it is worth knowing well.