Betsy Ross and the American Flag
16/01/2015 13:16
A typical practice among Americans celebrating Independence Day each and every July 4th should be to show an American flag since it is actually a symbol of freedom and liberty, which the Usa promises in the Bill of Rights and proclaimed inside the Declaration of Independence.
However there are lots of controversies surrounding the creation in the initial American flag. At the center of those controversies can be a woman named Betsy Ross. Read a lot more regarding the design of your initially American Flag in American History magazine.
The story of Betsy Ross producing the initial American flag for General George Washington almost certainly entered into the American conscious about the time on the 1876 Centennial celebrations, based on research. In 1870 Ross's grandson, William J. Canby, presented a paper towards the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in which he claimed his grandmother had sewn the initial flag in the United states of america. The historic episode supposedly occurred in late May well or early June 1776, a year just before Congress passed the Flag Act. Canby's account gained wide circulation; on the other hand independent investigation all through the years has failed to establish documented proof. Quite a few historians doubt its authenticity. Study far more about the controversies surrounding Canby's paper inside the Smithsonian magazine.
Despite the fact that it really is known that Betsy Ross created flags for the government throughout the American Revolution, no conclusive proof exists that she created the national emblem adopted by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777.
Betsy Ross was born Elizabeth Griscom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 1, 1752. Just after she completed her education at a Quaker public school, her father apprenticed her to an upholsterer named William Webster. While working for Webster Betsy Ross fell in like and eloped with fellow apprentice John Ross. Shortly following their marriage the young couple began their very own upholstery company; they later had two kids.
By the outbreak from the American Revolutionary War in 1775, the Ross's had been struggling financially and so John Ross joined the Pennsylvania militia; he was killed in January 1776. Immediately after his death, Betsy Ross joined the "Fighting Quakers" which, as opposed to conventional Quakers, supported the war work. It was throughout this time after her husband death that Betsy Ross based on her family history, that she met with George Washington and two signers of your Declaration of Independence, George Ross and Robert Morris, at her upholstery business enterprise to talk about the sewing with the very first United states of america flag.
Even though evidence of this meeting is insufficient, there is enough hard evidence that shows Betsy Ross did make flags for the government; this difficult evidence includes a receipt for the Pennsylvania Navy in May possibly 1777.
Ross continued operating in her upholstery small business, such as making flags for the United states of america of America, until 1827. Right after the death of her second husband, Joseph Ashburn, she married John Claypoole in 1783; the couple had five daughters and was married until 1817 when Claypoole died. Just after her retirement, Ross's daughter continued to operate the upholstery organization. Ross died in Philadelphia on January 30, 1836, at age 84.
Despite the shaky evidence that Betsy Ross was the initial sewer of your United states flag, the United states of america Postal Service issued a stamp in 1952 to honor the 200th anniversary of her death. The stamp portrays Betsy Ross presenting a flag to George Washington, Robert Morris and George Ross. US Marine Flags at FlagsExpo