2. The Story of the Original Stars and Stripes
For generations, American schoolbooks brought up American children on the tale of Betsy Ross (1752 – 1836), the woman who sewed America’s first flag. A Philadelphia seamstress and upholsterer, Ross made tents, and sewed uniforms and flags for the Continental Army and Navy. In 1776, she reportedly received a visit from her relative, Colonel George Ross, accompanied by George Washington and financier Robert Morris. They asked her to make a flag based on a sketch that featured thirteen six-pointed white stars, and thirteen red and white stripes. She accepted, but suggested some changes: arrange the stars in a circle, and reduce the star points from six to five. Congress adopted that design as the national flag on July 14th, 1777.
In reality, aside from the fact that the Stars and Stripes was not America’s first flag, the account that Ross had sewn it is a myth. There is no contemporary documentary support to back it up. Indeed, the first mention of Betsy Ross and the original Stars and Stripes only came a century later. In 1870, her grandson William Canby claimed that Ross had relayed that account to her daughter, niece, and granddaughter. Harper’s New Monthly Magazine published the story in 1873, and it was uncritically accepted and made it into schoolbooks. So, what is the truth about the origins of the Stars and Stripes?