So yesterday we did the 5 ugliest god damn flags in american history.....well today, in honor of telling a country with a pretty cool flag, who's colors we totally stole, to bugger off, we have the 5 best flags America has every come up with.
Leading off the pack:
#5
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| The Great State of Arkansas |
Lot of people dont like this flag, and at some level I get that. Im not usually a fan of flags with the state names on them (as you might have noticed yesterday), and it does look vaguely like the confederate flag. (in the sense of having the blue band of stars and a red background)
Which is ironic since the Arkansas flag was designed by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
It's also one of the most symbol laden flags we have, which is why I like it.
Ok so first up we have the 25 stars in the blue part, Arkansas was state number 25. And the stars are in a diamond shape because Arkansas is the only state with diamonds [at the time the flag was made].
Which brings us to the other 4 stars in the white part, and this is where the symbolism really gets cool.
The 3 stars on the bottom have a triple meaning. First they signify the Louisiana Purchase...in 1803 (3 stars for '03) Second they signify Arkansas being the 3rd state created from the Purchase.
And finally, the 3 stars represent the three countries that have owned Arkansas, Spain, France, and the US.
As to the top star that was added 11 years later, when someone finally noticed that Arkansas had technically been part of another country...the Confederacy. But that star was added apart from the others, so as to not screw up the other meanings.....also possibly due to the Confederacy's country status being disputable. (by the way, Mississippi and Georgia, if you want to do a tribute to the Confederacy in a non offensive way, THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT)
So yea, like I said incredibly laden with symbolism. Also one of only two flags in the US to be predominately red (Tennessee is the other), which makes it stand out a bit, which is something I like in my flags.
#4
Another flag with some great symbolism. The blue on the bottom is for the Colorado River (AKA the river that cutout the Grand Canyon), the Copper Star is for states history as a major Copper mining state. And the top part? again this is where it gets fun: the 13 stripes for the 13 original colonies....but the colors are Hapsburg Spain, representing Arizona's long Spanish history.
There are almost no flags that change that much color wise from the top of the flag to the bottom, in fact maryland is about the only other one I can think of, and all due respect to my birth state, Arizona does it better. Oh and yes, that is supposed to look like a sunrise or sunset....two things Arizona is known for.
The 3 stars on the bottom have a triple meaning. First they signify the Louisiana Purchase...in 1803 (3 stars for '03) Second they signify Arkansas being the 3rd state created from the Purchase.
And finally, the 3 stars represent the three countries that have owned Arkansas, Spain, France, and the US.
As to the top star that was added 11 years later, when someone finally noticed that Arkansas had technically been part of another country...the Confederacy. But that star was added apart from the others, so as to not screw up the other meanings.....also possibly due to the Confederacy's country status being disputable. (by the way, Mississippi and Georgia, if you want to do a tribute to the Confederacy in a non offensive way, THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT)
So yea, like I said incredibly laden with symbolism. Also one of only two flags in the US to be predominately red (Tennessee is the other), which makes it stand out a bit, which is something I like in my flags.
#4
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| Arizona |
Another flag with some great symbolism. The blue on the bottom is for the Colorado River (AKA the river that cutout the Grand Canyon), the Copper Star is for states history as a major Copper mining state. And the top part? again this is where it gets fun: the 13 stripes for the 13 original colonies....but the colors are Hapsburg Spain, representing Arizona's long Spanish history.
There are almost no flags that change that much color wise from the top of the flag to the bottom, in fact maryland is about the only other one I can think of, and all due respect to my birth state, Arizona does it better. Oh and yes, that is supposed to look like a sunrise or sunset....two things Arizona is known for.
(Sedona is in Arizona, obviously)
#3
So given how patriotic and uptight Americans are about our flag, if there was ever a flag you would totally expect to look like the result of a massive orgy with the colors red, white, blue, the statue of liberty, a baseball, apple pie and a bald eagle, it would likely be the flag of our nations capitol.
Which as you can see is about as far from what they actually have as you can get. Which is a good chunk of the reason I like that flag. Its more subdued than youd expect, and still looks classy and powerful.
Granted unlike the others on the list, it doesnt have much in the way of symbolism, its design is the coat of arms of George Washington (who for non americans the city is named after) But hey at least they didnt just slap his face on the damn thing (looking at you Washington State, especially since your flag came first) .
It also happens to be the only predominately white flag I actually like, and that alone would get it a spot on this list
#2
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| The flag of Washington DC |
So given how patriotic and uptight Americans are about our flag, if there was ever a flag you would totally expect to look like the result of a massive orgy with the colors red, white, blue, the statue of liberty, a baseball, apple pie and a bald eagle, it would likely be the flag of our nations capitol.
Which as you can see is about as far from what they actually have as you can get. Which is a good chunk of the reason I like that flag. Its more subdued than youd expect, and still looks classy and powerful.
Granted unlike the others on the list, it doesnt have much in the way of symbolism, its design is the coat of arms of George Washington (who for non americans the city is named after) But hey at least they didnt just slap his face on the damn thing (looking at you Washington State, especially since your flag came first) .
It also happens to be the only predominately white flag I actually like, and that alone would get it a spot on this list
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| American Samoa |
So perhaps surprising to many Americans, Puerto Rico isnt our only territory, we have a few more.
Granted your forgiven for not being familiar with American Samoa, its a tiny island, and its really only famous for one thing, being the birthplace of the Anoai Family. Never heard of them? lets try it this way, the birthplace of WWE Hall of Famers, High Chief Peter Maivia and the Wild Samoan's Afa and Siki, and of course their prodigy WWE Hall of Famers Yokozuna and Rikishi, and current WWE superstars Jimmy and Jey Uso and Roman Reigns.....oh and I almost forgot Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson, and a dozen others who didnt make it as big. So yea, Basically American Samoa been ruling american wrestling for almost 50 years.
But thats really the only thing noteworthy about American Samoa....other than that flag of course.
I like for two reasons: 1) only flag in the US to use the triangle so it stands out in a crowd.
2) That eagle. Take a good look at that thing, thats not your typical american bald eagle. Because that one isnt holding arrows or an olive branch.....that thing is holding traditional Samoan power symbols of a club and a whip. Cause that eagle is coming to fight.
And actually on a slightly more serious note, the direction the eagle is flying is symbolic, its flying towards the flag pole and therefore towards American Samoa, so that eagle is supposed to represent the US protection of Samoa. So it looks unique, has symbolism and looks bad ass.
Thats how you make a good flag.
But finally our winner:
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| New Mexico |
So again this is a very unique flag, its one of only 4 in the US not to have the color blue on it. And its the only American flag to be predominantly yellow, so it definitely stands out
See that red thing in the center looks native american, and kinda like a sun. Which combined with the color yellow suggests something really hot...as New Mexico is.
And it turns out, after looking into the meaning of the flag....thats basically it.
The symbol in the center is the holy symbol of New Mexico's native pueblo people, and it actually does represent the sun. Now it should be pointed out New Mexico has one of the largest (both in terms of % of the population and straight numeric) native populations in the country. So clearly this is a symbol that means something to that state beyond other states symbols. And as to the red and yellow, not only do those suggest the heat of the sun, they are, as was the case with the Arizona flag, the colors of Hapsburg Spain, the original European settlers of New Mexico.
So for being, not only a flag that stands out, but for being the only american flag that can get its "message" across without needing to research symbolism or state history, New Mexico is the winner of the Best American Flag of all times.
And now, this has nothing to do with the flags, but since I figured I needed to end on a patriotic note:
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