NSSAR - Which Star is your State Star

Which Star is Your Star?
from a classroom exercise prepared by Fred Jeffries (COSSAR)

While there is no official protocol to associate a star with any particular state, there are as many stars in the U.S. flag as there are states, so there is a star of each state.  To make the flag have a more personal meaning, we can arbitrarily number the stars by rows (starting from the top left) and assign them to the states in order of their date of ratification of the Constitution or admission to the Union.  The postal abbreviations below are arranged in that order.

Note:  ND and SD (admitted at the same time) are listed in alphabetic order.

Find your state abbreviation below and see that your star flies proudly on every flag you see.  (You may watch over several stars if you have lived in several states.)

DE    PA    NJ    GA    CT    MA

   MD    SC    NH    VA    NY

NC    RI    VT    KY    TN    OH

   LA    IN    MS    IL    AL

ME    MO    AR    MI    FL    TX

   IA    WI    CA    MN    OR

KS    WV    NV    NE    CO    ND

   SD    MT    WA    ID    WY

UT    OK    NM    AZ    AK    HI

Ratification and Admission Dates: The chart below shows the dates on which each state ratified the constitution or admitted to the union and the dates on which the U.S. flag changed to recognize the new states. The best-known flags are those that were in use the longest -- those with 13, 15, 48, and 50 stars. During the Civil War a bill was introduced in Congress to remove the stars of the states that had seceded from the union, but it did not pass, in part because many units and officers fighting on the Union side were from the secessionist states.

Date 
.
1777 Jun 14 ==
1787 Dec 7
1787 Dec 12
1787 Dec 18
1788 Jan 2
1788 Jan 9
1788 Feb 6
1788 Apr 28
1788 May 23
1788 Jun 21
1788 Jun 25
1788 Jul 26
1788 Nov 21
1790 May 29
1791 Jan 29
1792 Jun 1
1795 May 1 ==
1796 Jun 1
1803 Mar 1
1812 Apr 13
1816 Dec 11
1817 Dec 10
1818 Jul 4 ==
1818 Dec 3
1819 July 4 ==
1819 Dec 14
1820 Mar 15
1820 Jul 4 ==
1821 Aug 10
1822 Jul 4 ==
1836 Jun 15
1836 July 4 ==
1837 Jan 26
1837 Jul 4 ==
1845 Mar 3
1845 Jul 4 ==
1845 Dec 29
1846 Jul 4 ==
1846 Dec 28
1847 Jul 4 ==
1848 May 29
1848 Jul 4 ==
1850 Sep 9
1851 Jul 4 ==
1858 May 11
1858 Jul 4 ==
1859 Feb 14
1859 Jul 4 ==
1861 Jan 29
1861 Jul 4 ==
1863 Jun 20
1863 Jul 4 ==
1864 Oct 31
1865 Jul 4 ==
1867 Mar 1
1867 Jul 4 ==
1876 Aug 1
1876 Jul 4 ==
1889 Nov 2
1889 Nov 2
1889 Nov 8
1889 Nov 11
1890 Jul 3
1890 Jul 4 ==
1890 Jul 10
1891 Jul 4 ==
1896 Jan 4
1896 Jul 4 ==
1907 Nov 16
1908 Jul 4 ==
1912 Jan 6
1912 Feb 14
1912 Jul 4 ==
1959 Jan 3
1959 Jul 4 ==
1959 Aug 21
1960 Jul 4 ==

Event
.
flag design was specified
DE ratified the Constitution
PA ratified the Constitution
NJ ratified the Constitution
GA ratified the Constitution
CT ratified the Constitution
MA ratified the Constitution
MD ratified the Constitution
SC ratified the Constitution
NH ratified the Constitution
VA ratified the Constitution
NY ratified the Constitution
NC ratified the Constitution
RI ratified the Constitution
VT was admitted to the Union
KY was admitted to the Union
added two new stars AND stripes
TN was admitted to the Union
OH was admitted to the Union
LA was admitted to the Union
IN was admitted to the Union
MS was admitted to the Union
added five stars, only 13 stripes
IL was admitted to the Union
added one more star
AL was admitted to the Union
ME was admitted to the Union
added two more stars
MO was admitted to the Union
added one more star
AR was admitted to the Union
added one more star
MI was admitted to the Union
added one more star
FL was admitted to the Union
added one more star
TX was admitted to the Union
added one more star
IA was admitted to the Union
added one more star
WI was admitted to the Union
added one more star
CA was admitted to the Union
added one more star
MN was admitted to the Union
added one more star
OR was admitted to the Union
added one more star
KS was admitted to the Union
added one more star
WV was admitted to the Union
added one more star
NV was admitted to the Union
added one more star
NE was admitted to the Union
added one more star
CO was admitted to the Union
added one more star
ND was admitted to the Union
SD was admitted to the Union
MT was admitted to the Union
WA was admitted to the Union
ID was admitted to the Union
added five more stars
WY was admitted to the Union
added one more star
UT was admitted to the Union
added one more star
OK was admitted to the Union
added one more star
NM was admitted to the Union
AZ was admitted to the Union
added two more stars
AK was admitted to the Union
added one more star
HI was admitted to the Union
added one more star

Total
Stars
13
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
15
.
.
.
.
.
20
.
21
.
.
23
.
24
.
25
.
26
.
27
.
28
.
29
.
30
.
31
.
32
.
33
.
34
.
35
.
36
.
37
.
38
.
.
.
.
.
43
.
44
.
45
.
46
.
.
48
.
49
.
50

Years
Used
18
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
23
.
.
.
.
.
1
.
1
.
.
2
.
14
.
1
.
8
.
1
.
1
.
1
.
3
.
7
.
1
.
2
.
2
.
2
.
2
.
9
.
14
.
.
.
.
.
1
.
5
.
12
.
4
.
.
47
.
1
.
over 39

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