Beginning with the Third
Flag Act of 1818, the tradition of adding a star for
each new state added to the Union became the customary
way of updating the American Flag. Under unusual
circumstances, some star counts on American flags are
considered "Unofficial". This is a result of the
guidelines specified by the Third Flag Act for adding
new stars to the flag. The act of 1818 decreed that upon
"the admission of every new state into the Union, one
star be added to the union of the flag; and that such
addition shall take effect of the fourth day of July
then next succeeding such admission." On
a few rare occasions, however, more than one state was
added to the Union within the same year, prior to the
4th of July. Such was the case when Washington
State entered the Union on November 11, 1889. At
the time, 38 stars was still the official star count on
the American Flag. North Dakota and South Dakota
entered the Union on November 2, 1889, bringing the
count from 38 to 40. Just 6 days later, on
November 8, 1889, Montana became the 41st state, and
then, just 3 days later, on November 11, 1889,
Washington State became number 42. For 243 days,
the United States had 42 states, but just one day before
Washington State's 42 would have become official, on
July 3, 1890, Idaho entered the Union as the 43rd state.
Consequently, the 42 star flag representing Washington
Statehood never became official, despite having a period
of 243 days with 42 states. Flag manufacturers
often disregarded the "official" star count, and
produced flags and sold flags that were current
regardless of the official national star count.
This beautiful flag of 42 stars is an example of an
"unofficial" star count. The canton of the flag is
clamp-dyed. In the process of clamp dying, first
patented in the 1850s, two plates with the pattern to be
dyed were produced on two matching metal plates which
were clamped together. The fabric was them
immersed in a vat of the desired colored dye, and the
areas that were unclamped retained the dye. When
the immersed material dried, the clamps and plates would
be removed, leaving the areas untouched by the dye in
its original state. This flag is a fabulous flag
of a large 42 star clamp-dyed cotton flag, circa 1890.
Its "dancing" stars, and majestic size at 7 1/2 feet
long, is exemplary of high quality flag manufacturing in
the late 19th century.
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