In our earliest childhood years, when we began to learn who we were and where we were, we saw the American flag and learned it was the symbol of our country, the United States of America. The flag had 48 states and a nice block of white stars in the upper left corner of the "Stars and Stripes". In our grade school years, we learned the pledge of allegiance to the flag and later had to learn to insert "under God" after "one nation". It's a bit amazing that so many people to this day, a half century-plus later, don't know they are supposed to say, "one nation under God," not saying "one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all", separated by commas.
We learned about the American territories, Alaska and Hawaii, when young. Alaska was where there was a gold rush, had Eskimos and their igloos, many mountains, icebergs, dogsleds. Hawaii was a tropical island out in the Pacific, had been attacked by the Japanese to start the United States' Second World War--had pretty Hawaiian girls who danced the hula in grass skirts. But, Alaska and Hawaii were American territories and that was all.
In our junior year, 1959, I remember a teacher, Mrs. Blanton, coming into class saying Alaska was going to be a state. There was a mild cheer and shouts of "Gee! Gosh"! President Eisenhower had signed the document to make Alaska a state, the 49th, by Congressional resolution in January 3, 1959. In March of that same year, Hawaii was approved to be a state. Both, Alaska and Hawaii, officially became states in August of that year.
I remember wondering how the government would cram 2 more stars on the flag. When I first saw it, it didn't look as neat, looked more crowded, so I had the feeling the United States had really grown in size, going from 48 members to 50. But, since both states did not have real land connections to the US, it just didn't seem right to me that an island out in the Pacific and a huge chunk of land, the largest state, Alaska, that would require anyone to get there by car would have to go through Canada, should be a part of the United STATES. Didn't make sense for two states to be elsewhere on the globe.
Thinking about it later, 50 seemed like a round number. But still, the United States, when seen on a map, is the "lower forty-eight". Now that's the United States that sticks in mind and made putting the states really together in a puzzle more joined.