Betsy Ross flag
Early U.S. flag design
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Key Takeaways
- The Betsy Ross flag is a 1792 design for the flag of the United States that first appeared in a painting of George Washington at Trenton by John Trumbull.
- The name, first used more than 100 years after the flag appeared in a painting, stems from the legend that a Philadelphia upholsterer, Elizabeth "Betsy" Ross, designed and produced this flag.
- Today, the flag is often used as a patriotic emblem of the American Revolution and of American values more broadly.
- Although her manufacturing contributions are documented, a popular legend evolved in which Ross was hired by a group of Founding Fathers to make a new U.
- George Washington was a member of the Masonic Lodge, and their use of the six-pointed star may have influenced Washington's choice of six-pointed stars for his headquarters flag.
The Betsy Ross flag is a 1792 design for the flag of the United States that first appeared in a painting of George Washington at Trenton by John Trumbull. This flag had red stripes outermost and stars arranged in a circle. The name, first used more than 100 years after the flag appeared in a painting, stems from the legend that a Philadelphia upholsterer, Elizabeth "Betsy" Ross, designed and produced this flag.
The design of the “Betsy Ross flag” conformed to the Flag Act of 1777, passed early in the American Revolutionary War, which merely specified 13 alternating red and white horizontal stripes and 13 white stars in a blue canton. Today, the flag is often used as a patriotic emblem of the American Revolution and of American values more broadly.
Betsy Ross Legend
Betsy Ross (1752–1836) was an upholsterer in Philadelphia who produced uniforms, tents, and flags for Continental forces. Although her manufacturing contributions are documented, a popular legend evolved in which Ross was hired by a group of Founding Fathers to make a new U.S. flag. According to the legend, she deviated from the six-pointed stars in the design and produced a flag with five-pointed stars instead. George Washington was a member of the Masonic Lodge, and their use of the six-pointed star may have influenced Washington's choice of six-pointed stars for his headquarters flag. The claim by her descendants that Betsy Ross contributed to the flag's design is not accepted by modern American scholars and vexillologists.
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