Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 85, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 June 1907 — OLD GLORY. [ARTICLE]

OLD GLORY.

Interesting Story of the Birth of the Nation’s Emblem. On the 14th of June, 1777, the Stars and Stripes sprang into being. On that day the American Congress, in session at Philadelphia, resolved: "That the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and ■white'; the Union to be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation, the stars to be arranged in a circle." It has often been asked what suggested the design f&r our star-spangled banner, and there are many traditions afloat concerning the origin of the design, but the one in which there is undoubtedly the most truth is that which credits the design to Washington. The General found in the coat of arms of bis own family a hint from which he drew the design for the'flag. This coat of arms had two red bars on a white ground, and three gilt Btars above -the top bar. When the time arrived that a flag had to b* decided upon, the vessels on the seas as well as the armies on land being in need of a standard to mark and lead taem, Washington decided that his “coat of arms, with a few modifications, would be a fitting emblem for the new nation. The decision having been made to-give America a flag which would answer for all the colonies, Washington, as the head of the committee of three, the others being Robert Morris and Col. Ross, met to adopt the form of the banner and have it made. The flag nronoaed jnsfaGten* . Washington was accepted and floss suggested that they visit his niece, Mrs. Betsy Ross, and solicit her assistance. Betsy lloss was bom in 1752, and was a Quaker. She lived in Philadelphia. As a true helpmate and good needle woman, Betsy Ross assisted her husband in his business, which was jthat of upholsterer. Their home was at No. 89 Arch street, now renumbered 239. The story of that historic interview, when the committee, bringing with them a rough drawing of a flog, requested Mrs. Ross to make a flag with thirteen stripes alternating red and white, with a canton containing thirteen white stars on a blue field; how Mrs. Ross suggested substituting a five-pointed star (such as we now use), because it was used by the French and Dutch, rather than the six-pointed star of English heraldry—is well known to history. It is stated that Mrs. Ross folded a scrap of paper, and with one clip of her upholsterer’s shears produced a perfect five-pointed star. The committee accepted the suggestion, and we are told that Gen. Washington took-out his pencil and retraced the sketch which was to serve as a pattern for the flag. From this time and for many years Betsy Ross made flags for the army and navy. As Ion? as the States remained thirteen in number the original design of the circle of stars was satisfactory, but when, in 1791. Vermont, and in 1792 Kentucky, were taken Into the Union, it was decided to arrange the stars’ in the form of one constellation. In 1795 it was decided to add a stripe as well as a star for each State which came into the Union; consequently, in that year Vermont and ‘Kentucky were marked on the flag—one by a white and the other by a red stripe. Some wise prophet, looking ahead some twenty years or more, saw that this plan of adding a stripe as well as a star for each State added to the Union would mean a constant changing of the flag, and as a great growth of the country was foreseen, it was soon appreciated that iu a few. years, by this plan, the flag would become so large and ungainly that it* beauty would be lost. In 1812 a committee was elected by Congress to decide upon a permanent design for the flag, and the result was that the original thirteen stripes were a/Uu used, the stars being arranged on the blue field in the form- of a square with one constellation for each new State. Iu 1818 this plan was formally adopted by Congress, and the flag, with its thirteen stripes and stars corresponding in number to the States in the Union, became the established emblem of the nation.