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Brief History of Flag Day On or about June 1, 1776, Betsy Ross, a widowed Philadelphia upholsterer and seamstress, was visited by three members of a secret committee from the Continental Congress — George Washington, Robert Morris and George Ross, her late husband’s uncle. They came to ask her to sew the first flag of the new nation that would soon declare its independence from England. Washington (for whom Betsy often embroidered his shirt and cuff ruffles) showed her the design the committee had approved and told her that they needed to have the finished flag by mid-June. Betsy recommended one change: Instead of the 13 six-pointed stars shown on the design sketch, she suggested five points, because she would then be able to make each star with just one snip of her scissors. On June 14, 1776, Betsy Ross presented George Washington with the finished flag, which some reports say he hoisted over one of his battlefield encampments soon after the Declaration of Independence was signed as a way of "showing the colors" of the new United States. One year later, on June 14, 1777, John Adams stood before the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia and made an historical pronouncement with these words: "Resolved, that the flag of the thirteen United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation." The design of the flag would change many times over the years, with a star added on July 4 of the year in which a state was admitted into the Union. (The last change was July 4, 1960 when Hawaii was admitted as the 50th state.) In the mid-19th century, schools across the country marked June 14 as Flag Day or Flag Birthday. Patriotic organizations soon followed suit, as did a number of governors who ordered the flag to be displayed in all state buildings on June 14. In 1949, President Harry Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14 as national Flag Day .©2002 King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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