Interior scene depicting Betsy Ross presenting the American flag. General George Washington is seated on the left with financier Robert Morris, and standing, delegate George Ross (uncle of Betsy's husband.)
Did Betsy Ross really sew the first American flag?
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Scott LaMar
Interior scene depicting Betsy Ross presenting the American flag. General George Washington is seated on the left with financier Robert Morris, and standing, delegate George Ross (uncle of Betsy's husband.)
Airdate: June 29, 2023
Betsy Ross is one of the most recognizable names in American history. Her name and image has become synonymous with the American flag.
However, debate about whether she actually sewed the first American flag in 1776 has been going on for more than a century.
On The Spark Thursday, Meredith LaBoon . assistant director/curator from Historic Philadelphia Inc., said the answer to whether Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag is complicated because the original story was an oral history told by Betsy to her family,”The story goes that she was asked in June of 1776 to make her first flag. The story goes that she was visited by George Washington, Robert Morris and George Ross, and that they asked her to make the flag. They already had a design in mind. But she made a couple of small changes to the design. Most notably, they asked for six pointed stars, but Betsy recommended five pointed stars instead because they’re easier and faster to make. And that she continued to make flags throughout the rest of the Revolutionary War and then throughout the rest of her life.”
However, that story wasn’t known until 1870, when Betsy Ross’ grandson William Canby told it to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania but LaBoon was asked why there aren’t written records of Ross making the flag,”Number one, Betsy was not famous in her lifetime. She wasn’t like a famous figure like we think of her today. So overall, there aren’t as many records about her life as there are about, say, the founding fathers who were famous and wealthy in their lifetimes. And we see this a lot with women who we study through history, people of color. These oral histories become really important when you’re learning more about everyday people and not just wealthy, rich white men who we consider to be the founding fathers. So that’s a piece of it. There’s also the piece where when Betsy was making the first flag, it was an act of treason. According to the British, she was still considered to be a British citizen. So making any military supplies for a rebel army was an act of treason. And she could have been in very serious trouble if the wrong person were to find out that she was taking these commissions.”
LaBoon added that in the 1770s a flag was for military use and didn’t have the symbolic importance it does today. Another interesting tidbit — Betsy Ross was 24-year-old in 1776 and not the older woman portrayed in many pictures of her sewing the flag.
