The work to create our Great Seal began on July 4, 1776, when Congress formed a committee including Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson to design an official seal for our new country. It took three committees and Charles Thompson, secretary of Congress, six years to come up with the final design!

The American flag was born on June 14, 1777, when Congress passed the original Flag Act which read, “Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternating red and white, that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

During America’s war for independence, our forefathers fought under hundreds of flags designed and hand-made by local militia groups and colonial regiments.

The Star-Spangled Banner, our national anthem, is a beautiful song written by Francis Scott Key the day after the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor by British forces during the War of 1812. This assault followed the capture and burning of Washington, DC by the British. Clearly, our nation was in peril. Key was being held prisoner aboard the British ship Minden when the attack began. Key knew losing Fort McHenry and Baltimore would be disastrous for America and wondered if this land of the free and home of the brave could survive the war with England.

Betsy Ross represents what most patriots were in 1776, simple, hard-working people who wanted their country to be free. Her flag is a reminder of the part every day Americans played in gaining our independence from England. The Betsy Ross flag represents a time when our nation was in its purest form. A time when our nation was united against a common foe and in a common cause.