Flag of the United States John Trumbull. Despite the 1777 resolution, the early years of American independence featured many different flags. Most were individually crafted rather than mass-produced. While there are many examples of 13-star arrangements, some of those flags included blue stripes as well as red and white. Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, in a letter dated October 3, 1778, to Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, described the American flag as consisting of "13 stripes, alternately red, white, and blue, a small square in the upper angle, next the flag staff, is a blue field, with 13 white stars, denoting a new Constellation."
Flag of South Vietnam emperors, for independence and unification of the Viet nation. The meaning and design of Thành Thái's flag and artist Lê Văn Đệ's flag are almost the same – gold background with 3 horizontal red stripes across the center representing Vietnam's 3 geographic & cultural regions (Northern, Central, and Southern), but Thành Thái's flag had stripes which are lighter red and wider. After the deportation and exile of the Emperors Thành Thái and Duy Tân, the new pro-French puppet king Khải Định chose to change the imperial flag, replacing the three strips which signified the three regions of Vietnam (North, Central,