Did Betsey Ross Design the Flag of the United States of America?
PUBLICATIONS
OF THE
SCOTTSVILLE LITERARY SOCIETY,
No. 7.
OF THE
SCOTTSVILLE LITERARY SOCIETY,
No. 7.
DID BETSEY ROSS DESIGN
THE FLAG OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?
SCOTTSVILLE, N. Y.
Isaac Van Hooser. Printer.
1917.
DID BETSY ROSS DESIGN
THE FLAG OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?
By Franklin Hanford.
A paper read before the Scottsville LiterarySociety, January 22, 1917.
On Saturday, the fourteenth of June, 1777, theContinental Congress, then in session in Philadelphia,adopted a resolution which reads as follows:“Resolved, that the flag of the thirteen UnitedStates be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white;that the Union be thirteen stars, white in a bluefield, representing a new constellation.”
“The Journal of Congress is silent as to thename of the member or committee that introducedthis resolution and neither is there any record ofthe discussions that may have preceded the adoptionof our national emblem.” “It is a matter of[4]great regret that no record of the circumstancesattending the birth of the Stars and Stripes hasever been found,” for we should like to know whodesigned our present flag, and also, though a matterof less interest, who made, that is manufactured,the first one.
Some years ago I happened to see upon the wallat Mrs. Emma H. Miller’s house in Scottsville, avery attractive picture in colors. This picturerepresented General Washington seated on theleft and Robert Morris and the Hon. George Rossstanding near him, while, seated on the right, wasBetsey Ross with a completed flag of thirteenstripes, and thirteen stars in a blue field, in herlap. “C. H. Weisberger, Copyright 1903,” was inscribednear the bottom of the picture. Underneathit was this legend; “Birth of our nation’sflag. The first American flag accepted by Congressand adopted by resolution of Congress June 14,1777, as the national standard, was made by BetseyRoss, in 1776 at 239 Arch Street, Philadelphia, inthe room represented in this picture. The Committee,Robert Morris and Hon. George Ross, accompaniedby General George Washington, calledupon this celebrated woman and together with[5]her suggestions, produced our beautiful emblemof liberty.”
The legend
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