by Erin St John

Created on: March 13, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

The story of Betsy Ross sewing the first American flag has been taught to schoolchildren for nearly a hundred years; unfortunately, as most flag historians will tell you, it is simply not true.

The story of Betsy Ross was not told until the time of the nation's centennial celebration in 1876. Ross's nephew is the first known to have made statements about the "Betsy Ross" design, and though there are many late 19th century examples of this 13-star circled pattern, no 18th century (or even early 19th century) examples exist. Among historic flag experts, it is believed that her nephew perpetrated this hoax for his own reasons.

In fact, there may be less than ten authentic surviving Revolutionary period flags in existence. At the time, it was just not seen as that important - the Congress had much more important things to worry about, and their records barely mention a flag. The reason for this is that the flag's original purpose was simply to identify American ships. Though Betsy Ross did make some early flags, it is highly doubtful that she was commissioned to make the first. If her famous circular pattern was the original, you would expect to see many early reproductions in that style - and none show up until the late 19th century, when her nephew started sharing the family 'legend'.

More likely, the credit for the first flag should go to Francis Hopkinson, a native Philadelphian who was a delegate to the Continental Congress. He was also a member of the Continental Navy Board, as well as an artist - it is very likely that such a task would have fallen to him, and in 1780 he made claims that he was never compensated for his work on the flag.

While infinitely more believable than the Ross version of the tale, there is no actual flag to corroborate Hopkinson's claims either, and no record of what the original flag looked like. Surprisingly, this has been the status quo for much of American history, since the flag did not have a standard design until 1912.

The legend of Betsy Ross only gained popularity after the centennial. From the late 1890s through the turn of the century, Betsy's granddaughter and great-granddaughter sewed flags in Independence Hall, selling them to tourists and telling the 'legend' of their grandmother and her flag. The Betsy Ross House opened to the public, and the myth continued to spread until it gained enough popularity to be accepted as truth.

While it is difficult today to believe that the flag would be of so little importance in 1776, the more important lesson to remember is what happened in Philadelphia on July 4th of that year. The Declaration of Independence and the principles it embodies make up the fabric of our country, and are much more important than any piece of cloth.

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