More than 75 years after Flag Day became U.S. law, the stars and stripes grab our gaze these days in constant portraits of how Americans see their country's promise — sometimes dotted along historic graves of military veterans, draped upside down over a protester, or painted on a barn. Flag Day commemorates the 1777 approval of a national flag design by the Continental Congress. It was established by federal law in 1949 as June 14.