Trivia 11-27-17 Flag

[Billw12280]

When Lincoln was inaugurated in 1861, how many stars were on the U.S. flag? After he became president, when and why was the next star added?

credit: @chellers

There were 33 stars when Lincoln became president. When Kansas became a state in 1861 the 34th star was added but not until July 4, 1862.

 

[chellers]

Credit for question.

 

[ami]

33 stars
The 34th star was added July 4, 1861, when Kansas was granted statehood.

Source:
http://www.americancivilwarstory.com/civil-war-flags.html

Edit - There are several things I had to take into account in deciding how to score this question.

I thought the key to the question was going to be the fact that, although the date of Presidential inaugurations is now set at January 20, that wasn't the case in 1861. Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, by which time Kansas had officially been admitted to the Union on January 29 of that year.

It appears that the key the questioner had in mind was the fact that, according to protocol, when a new state is admitted to the Union, the star representing that state is not added to the "Official" United States Flag until the next July 4 following the date of admission. Thus, although there were 34 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's inauguration, the Official United States Flag had only 33 stars.

However, as several players have pointed out, there were 34-star flags in existence prior to July 4, 1861, notably one that Lincoln himself raised in Philadelphia on February 22, prior to his inauguration. Though those flags may not have been "Official" U. S. flags, the question didn't specify that it was asking about the "Official" U. S. flag.

So, I'm going to accept either 33 or 34 as a correct answer to the first part of the question.

If a player specified that there were 33 stars on the flag at the time of Lincoln's inauguration, then correct answers to the second and third parts of the question (when and why was the next star added) would be 1861, representing Kansas. I'm not going to worry about the month and day.

If a player specified that there were 34 stars on the flag at the time of Lincoln's inauguration, then correct answers to the second and third parts of the question would be 1863, representing West Virginia.

hoosier