A Committee of Congress
Visits Betsy Ross
by George Canby
The committee asked her if she thought she
could make a flag from a design, a rough
drawing of which General Washington exhibited. She replied with diffidence and becoming modesty that "she did not know, but
would try."
She noticed, however, that the stars, as
drawn, had six points, and informed the
committee that the correct star should have
but five points. They answered that they
understood this, but that a great number of
stars would be required, and the more regular form with six points could be more easily
made than one with five. She responded in a
practical way, by deftly folding a scrap of
paper, and then, with a single clip of her scissors, she displayed a true, symmetrical, five-pointed star.
After the design was partially redrawn on
the table in her little back parlor, she was left
to make her sample flag according to her own
ideas of the arrangement of the stars, the
proportions of the stripes, and the general
form of the whole.
Some time after its completion, it was presented to Congress, and the committee soon
thereafter had the pleasure of reporting to
her that her flag was accepted as the national
standard, and she was authorized to proceed
at once to the manufacture of a large number
for disposal by the Continental Congress.
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