How Many Red Stripes Does the American Flag Have?

There are 13 stripes to represent the original 13 American colonies that rebelled against Great Britain. In the original flag, each colony also had one star. When states began joining the new United States union, a white or red stripe and a star were added for each new state. After the fifteenth state, Kentucky, joined, it was decided that this was an unworkable system. The flag was returned to 13 stripes when Tennessee joined the union, and from then on a new star was added for each new state.