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Good Stories for Great Holidays

Frances Jenkins Olcott

Section 48 of 135 - Table of Contents

MEMORIAL DAY

(APRIL OR MAY)

FLAG DAY

(JUNE 14)


BETSY ROSS AND THE FLAG

BY HARRY PRINGLE FORD (ADAPTED)

On the 14th day of June, 1777, the Continental
Congress passed the following resolution:
``RESOLVED, That the flag of the thirteen United States
be thirteen stripes alternate red and white; that
the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field,
representing a new constellation.''

We are told that previous to this, in 1776, a
committee was appointed to look after the matter,
and together with General Washington they
called at the house of Betsy Ross, 239 Arch
Street, Philadelphia.

Betsy Ross was a young widow of twenty-four
heroically supporting herself by continuing the
upholstery business of her late husband, young
John Ross, a patriot who had died in the service
of his country.  Betsy was noted for her exquisite
needlework, and was engaged in the flag-making
business.

The committee asked her if she thought she
could make a flag from a design, a rough drawing
of which General Washington showed her.  She
replied, with diffidence, that she did not know
whether she could or not, but would try.  She
noticed, however, that the star as drawn had
six points, and informed the committee that the
correct star had but five.  They answered that
as a great number of stars would be required, the
more regular form with six points could be more
easily made than one with five.

She responded in a practical way by deftly
folding a scrap of paper; then with a single clip
of her scissors she displayed a true, symmetrical,
five-pointed star.

This decided the committee in her favor.  A
rough design was left for her use, but she was
permitted to make a sample flag according to her
own ideas of the arrangement of the stars and the
proportions of the stripes and the general form
of the whole.

Sometime after its completion it was presented
to Congress, and the committee had the pleasure
of informing Betsy Ross that her flag was
accepted as the Nation's standard.

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