Dispute
on the origin of the first Stars and Stripes Design
There are two major beliefs on the design of the first Stars and Stripes
design for Our Nation�s first �official� flag.
The Betsy Ross
Flag
As most historians
believe, Betsy Ross
was commissioned to sew the new symbol of the united colonies.Unfortunately, there is not any �real�
historical evidence to substantiate this belief.At best, the Ross Family has passed this
story down as being family history.According to the late Admiral George H. Preble, United States Navy, and
universally acknowledged as America�s Greatest Flag historian:
�It will probably never be known who designed the our union of
star,
the
records of Congress being silent on the subject, and there being
no mention or suggestion of it in any of the voluminous
correspondence
or
diaries of the time, public, or private, which have ever been published.�
1
As the
popular legend states, in late May or June of 1777, General George Washington
and Committee Congress Members George Ross and Robert Morris visited Betsy Ross,
a Philadelphia seamstress.These
gentle brought with them a sketch detailing what the new flag should look
like.As the legend continues,
General Washington was in favor of a six-pointed star; Betsy was said to have
favored a five-pointed star, because she could cut it with one quick snip of her
scissors.She managed to sway her
gentlemen callers.When asked if
she thought that she could make this flag, Betsy Ross was reputed to have said,
�I don�t know whether I can, but I�ll try.�
Upon completion of
the �Betsy Ross Flag�, the flag was submitted to the Committee of Congress and
it was unanimously adopted.There
by giving Betsy Ross the honor of having made the first American Flag.
This story
recounted by her grandson, William Canby, in 1870 during a speech he made at a
meeting of the Pennsylvania Historic Society.This was 94 years after the event took
place.Mr. Canby was eleven years
old, when Betsy Ross died in 1836.Also, have been several affidavits recounting
the Betsy Ross story, amongst these are from her daughter Rachel Fletcher, her
niece Margaret Donaldson Boggs, and finally, her granddaughter Sophia B.
Hildebrant.
Hopkinson�s Flag Design
Francis Hopkinson was a
popular patriot, a lawyer, a Congressman from New Jersey, a signer of the
Declaration of Independence, poet, artist, and distinguished civil servant. He
almost certainly was the person who designed the first Stars and
Stripes.
He was appointed to
the Continental Navy Board on November 6,1776. It was while serving on the
Continental Navy Board that he turned his attention to designing the flag of the
United States. The use of stars in that design is believed to have been the
result of an experience in the war directly related to his
priority.
Though Hopkinson's
political adversaries blocked all attempts to have him paid for his services,
they never denied that he made the designs. The journals of the Continental
Congress clearly show that he designed the flag.
The design of the first
Stars and Stripes by Hopkinson had the thirteen stars arranged in a "staggered"
pattern technically known as quincuncial style, an arrangement of five
things in a square or rectangle with one at each corner and one in the
middle. This arrangement inevitably
results in a strongly diagonal effect. In a flag of thirteen stars, this
placement produced the unmistakable outline of the crosses of St. George and of
St. Andrew, as used together on the British flag.
