Flag Day, June 14

Betsy would often tell her children, grandchildren, relatives and friends about the memorable day when three members of a secret committee from the Continental Congress came to call upon her in her home sometime late in May 1776. Those representatives � George Washington, Robert Morris and George Ross � asked her to sew the first flag. George Washington was the head of the Continental Army. Robert Morris, an owner of vast amounts of land, was perhaps the wealthiest citizen in the Colonies. Colonel George Ross was a respected Philadelphian and also the uncle of her late husband, John Ross.

Of course, Betsy Ross knew George Ross as her husband's uncle, and she was also acquainted with the great General Washington. They both worshipped at Christ Church in Philadelphia, and Betsy's pew was next to George and Martha Washington's pew. Her daughter recalled, "She was previously well acquainted with Washington, and he had often been in her house in friendly visits, as well as on business. She had embroidered ruffles for his shirt and cuffs, and it was partly owing to his friendship for her that she was chosen to make the flag."

It is thought that the Congressional Committee called on Betsy at her shop in May, and she finished the flag either in late May or early June 1776. In July the Declaration of Independence was read, the new flag was flown and the Liberty Bell tolled, heralding the birth of a new nation.

The Pledge of Allegiance was introduced many years later. It has been attributed to socialist editor and clergyman Francis Bellamy and was first published in 1892 in "The Youth's Companion," a children's magazine where he worked.

After a proclamation by President Benjamin Harrison, the pledge was first used in public schools on Oct. 12, 1892, during Columbus Day observances. The original wording was: "I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it stands: one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

The pledge has been changed twice since then. For Flag Day in 1924, "the flag of the United States of America" was officially adopted as a substitution for the phrase "my flag."

In 1954 the words "under God" were added after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men's service organization, and other religious leaders who sermonized that the pledge needed to be distinguished from similar orations used by "godless people."