PHILADELPHIA — In the bedroom of the Betsy Ross House, a reconstruction of where the upholsterer worked on her most famous commission, a long flag with a circle of 13 stars hangs over a Chippendale side chair and extends across the floor. Over the weeks in 1776 needed to complete the project, Ross likely would have knelt on the flag, stood on it and treated it more like an everyday banner — not with the kind of reverence we'd expect today.
"She would not have worried about it touching the floor or violating any codes," says Lisa Moulder, director of the Ross House. "The flag did not have any kind of special symbolism."
The Betsy Ross house on June 6, 2006, in Philadelphia.
Flags proliferate every July 4. Unlike the right to assemble or trial by jury, their role was not prescribed by the founders. They would have been rare during early Independence Day celebrations. Only in the mid-19th century does the U.S. flag become a permanent fixture at the White House, scholars believe. In the mid-20th century, a federal code was established for how it should be handled and displayed, and in the 1960s Congress passed a law making it illegal to "knowingly" cast "contempt" on the flag.
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The flag's evolution into sacred national symbol, and ongoing debates around it that inspire so much passion and anger, reflect the current events of a given era and the country's transformation from a loose confederation of states into a global superpower.
"The flag was really an afterthought," says Scot Guenter, author of "The American Flag, 1777-1924" and a professor emeritus of American Studies at San Jose State University. In the beginning, Guenter says, the Continental Congress was more concerned about developing a "Great Seal" because it was needed for papers it would issue.
Congress passed its first flag act on June 14, 1777: "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 flag is otherwise peripheral to the country's beginnings.
A spokesman for Independence Hall in Philadelphia says no records exist of a U.S. flag being present for the signing of the Constitution in 1787, or any indications that a national flag would have flown during the following decade at what is now called Congress Hall — a decade when Philadelphia was the country's capital. Researchers at George Washington's home have no evidence the flag was displayed there in his lifetime. Volunteers there now regularly raise and lower U.S. flags, which are sold at the gift shop as having "flown over Mount Vernon."
The Walker family poses for a photo Tuesday before the annual South Montgomery County 4th of July Parade at Market Street in The Woodlands, Texas.
According to the White House Historical Association, no precise date exists for when the flag first had a permanent home at the presidential residence. Researchers at the historical association say the best guess is June 29, 1861, early in the Civil War, when President Lincoln dedicated a flagpole on the South Grounds.
The Civil War, followed by the country's centennial in 1876, helped mythologize the flag. Americans were in the mood for a good story, and William J. Canby, grandson of Betsy Ross, had one. In a speech given to the Pennsylvania Historical Society, Canby drew upon family memories in narrating the quiet, heroic tale of Betsy Ross, who died little known beyond her immediate community.
"As an example of industry, energy and perseverance, and of humble reliance upon providence, though all the trials, which were not few, of her eventful life, the name of Elizabeth Claypoole (her married name at the time of her death) is worthy of being placed on record for the benefit of those who should be similarly circumstanced," Canby stated.
The Ross House bills itself as "the birthplace of the American Flag," but its origins are uncertain. We have no definitive account. Many credit Francis Hopkinson, a congressman from New Jersey, but others, including Ross, may have added details — and, unlike the Declaration of Independence, we have no original artifact.
Ross, who died in 1836, left behind no diary or contemporary accounts of her whereabouts, officials at the Ross House acknowledge. She was very much a real person who produced various flags before and after the alleged time she was approached by a commission that included George Washington and asked to sew a flag to represent the new country. Officials at the Ross house have no direct proof of Washington contacting Ross in 1776, but they note a ledger unearthed in 2015 revealed Washington engaged in business two years earlier with Ross and her husband and fellow upholster, John Ross.
Flags and patriotic stars flutter and twirl as Dwane Tervooren rides with other motorcyclists Tuesday during the Independence Dayparade in Buffalo Gap, Texas.
Throughout the 20th century, regulations were proposed and enacted. The first national flag code was drafted in 1923 and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II, with recommendations on everything from how to salute the flag to how to carry it. In the mid-1950s, President Dwight Eisenhower endorsed legislation adding "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance, a Cold War action with origins 20 years earlier.
Burning American flags dates back at least to the Civil War. In July 1968, in response to Vietnam War protesters, Congress passed legislation making it illegal — the Supreme Court overturned the ban in 1989 — and adding other restrictions against "publicly mutilating" the flag.
"The flag is so important because it helps define what we believe in. You have Democrats and Republicans trying to attach meaning to it," Guenter says. "The flag can intersect with issues of gender and race and sexuality. There's so much there to think about, and it reveals so much about who we are."
