U.S. 37 Star Flag representing Nebraska's admission to the Union.
The journey for statehood for Nebraska had been a tedious process. In 1854, the territories of Kansas and Nebraska had been proposed to allow for the potential admission of one as a slave state and one as a free state, under the doctrine of popular sovereignty that would let the settlers decide which way the state would go. As a result, for the rest of the 1850s Kansas Territory became a battle ground between pro-slavery and abolitionist settlers. Meanwhile the settling of Nebraska was virtually ignored.
However, as the Union Pacific railroad extended across the continent after the War, settlers were drawn to Nebraska Territory. Still no attempt was made to achieve statehood until the winter of 1866-1867, when its vote was considered imperative for the ratification of the Radical Republicans constitutional amendments.
Initially vetoed by President Andrew Johnson, Nebraskas admission bill was finally adopted despite Johnsons veto on March 1st, 1867, and her star was officially added to the Union on July 4th, 1867. Thirty-seven star flags, despite its official use for a decade, show very little imagination in the arrangement of the stars. Most thirty-seven star flags tend to have their stars arranged in simple rows, even though thirty-seven is not a number readily divisible into five, six, or seven rows. As the centennial approached, there was a renewed interest in the United States flag.
