Flag of the United States John Paul Jones used a variety of 13-star flags on his U.S. Navy ships including the well-documented 1779 flags of the Serapis and the Alliance. The Serapis flag had three rows of eight-pointed stars with stripes that were red, white, and blue. The flag for the "Alliance", however, had five rows of eight-pointed stars with 13 red and white stripes, and the white stripes were on the outer edges. Both flags were documented by the Dutch government in October 1779, making them two of the earliest known flags of 13 stars. Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey, a naval flag designer,
Flag of Liberia Flag of Liberia The Flag of Liberia or the Liberian flag bears a close resemblance to the flag of the United States, showing the freed American and ex-Caribbean slaves offspring and bloodline origins of the country. The Liberian flag has similar red and white stripes, as well as a blue square with a white star in the canton. It was adopted on July 26, 1847. The eleven stripes symbolize the signatories of the Liberian Declaration of Independence, red and white symbolizing courage and moral excellence. The white star represents the first independent western-styled republic in Africa, above the blue square