In April of 2001, 750, 000 Mississippians went to the polls to decide whether to charge their state flag. The old flag, adopted in 1894, prominently incorporates the Confederate battle flag, and a committee set up by the governor had proposed to replace it with a pattern of twenty stars on a blue field. The stars were apparently to represent the thirteen original colonies, the six nations and Indian tribes associated with the state, and the state of Mississippi itself, although it was also said that they represent Mississippi’s status as the twentieth state. The important point was that they were not the Confederate flag.