Nepotism, Not Sewing Skills, Led to Betsy Ross Making the First American Flag
By | January 11, 2023
As the saying goes, ‘it’s not what you know; it’s who you know.’ This was the case in colonial America as much as it is today. When Betsy Ross was selected to sew the original flag for the brand-new United States of America, it wasn’t necessarily because of her reputation as an excellent seamstress. It was because of insider connections.
An Upholstery Background
There are no written accounts to tell us exactly why Betsy Ross was asked to make the first flag, but there is enough circumstantial evidence for us to speculate. We know that Betsy married John Ross, an upholsterer, in 1773. She often helped her husband with his work, which included making bed hangings for George Washington in 1774. Washington knew her and was familiar with her work, or at least, with her husband’s work. John Ross, however, was killed in a munitions explosion in 1776, leaving Betsy a widow. To support herself, she continued running her husband’s upholstery business.
Family Connections
The Continental Congress formed a Flag committee to come up with a design for a flag for the newborn United States. The Flag committee included George Washington, Robert Morris, and George Ross. George Ross was the uncle of Betsy’s late husband, John Ross. Robert Morris served on another committee, the Marine committee, where he befriended George Read, another uncle of John Ross. Both George Ross and George Read, distraught over the untimely death of their nephew, John Ross, were eager to see his young widow, Betsy, cared for. It is very likely that Betsy was asked to work on the flag because she was paid a handsome sum for her work.
An Act of Treason
The colonists were vying for independence from the British at this time but is was still considered an act of treason for the Founding Fathers to set up a new government and a new country. Even making a flag for the new country was a treasonous act. It could be that George Washington, George Ross, and the Flag committee recruited Betsy Ross as the flag maker because they were wholly convinced that her loyalties were with the Revolutionary cause. Had they selected another seamstress whose allegiance was questionable, she may have reported the Flag committee to the British.
