US State Flag Families

Hmm, I think I’m detecting some patterns here. Let’s take a look and see how these babies break out:

• Boring – Hard to believe but the basic pattern of seal on a dark blue background describes over half of our state flags – 26, to be exact. This particularly boring design came from regimental flags, almost all of which followed the same basic pattern. Regimental flags may well represent the first flags that probably ever represented the state.
• Confederate (red circle) – Confederate flags (both the Battle Flag and the Stars & Bars) were very different in their emphasis on the color red. This is reflected in these 8 flags.
• X (green circle) – Another distinction for Confederate flags (and I’m talking about the Battle Flag this time) is the use of an X, or saltire. This derives from the cross of Burgundy, basically the Alabama flag but with extra doodads on the arms of the cross. The cross of Burgundy was used by the Spanish empire, which once ruled most of the South.
• French (blue circle) – Everyone’s familiar with the Tricolor. Three states seem to look to that flag for inspiration (though 2 of them have turned the stripes on their side). That’s not too surprising, as the Mississippi Valley was all French at one time.
• Colonial (gold circle) – These four don’t have all that much in common other than that they all break away from the seal / dark blue pattern. My guess is that their being so ancient gave them a little freedom to do something a little different. Indeed, several of these have themes that go back quite a bit.
• Modern (orange circle) – On the other hand, these 3 states are some of the newest ones out there. It seems only fitting that they might shake things up a little, especially relative to the symbols those symbols.
• Unique (black circles) – Here are 6 American originals. They really don’t have much in common, other than that they are all rather different (though half of them do feature a white background).