October 7, 2025, North Dakota, South Dakota, & the Dominican Republic

Today, the flags of North Dakota, South Dakota, and the Dominican Republic fly.

I’m a few days late in honoring the admission of Nort and South Dakota to the Union on November 2, 1888 as the 39th and 40th states. Interestingly, no one knows which was number 39 and which was 40, as President Benjamin Harrison shuffled the papers on his desk and covered up all but the signature lines of the documents when signing them.

The flag of the Dominican Republic Also flies in commemoration of its adoption on November 6, 1863. The Dominican Republic is a nation which occupies just over half the island of Hispanola in the Caribbean Sea. The design of this flag is enshrined in Article 31 of the nation’s constitution, which reads, “The National Flag is composed of the colors ultramarine blue and vermillion red, in alternating quarters, located in such a way that the blue is in the upper part of the flagpole, separated by a white cross half the width of the height of a quarter and that carries in its center the National Coat of Arms. The merchant flag is the same as the national, but without the Coat of Arms.”