Betsy Ross Flag - Symbolism

Symbolism

To add to the mystery surrounding the first American flag, experts can only guess the reason Congress chose stripes, stars, and the colors red, white, and blue for the flag. Historians and experts discredit the common theory that the stripes and five-pointed stars derived from the Washington family coat of arms. While this theory adds to Washington's legendary involvement in the development of the first flag, no evidence -- other than the obvious one that his coat of arms, like the Stars and Stripes, has stars and stripes in it -- exists to show any connection between the two. Washington was aware that "most admire... the trappings of elevated office," but for himself claimed "To me there is nothing in it." However, he frequently used (for example, as his bookplate) his family coat of arms with three five-pointed red stars and three red-and-white stripes, on which is based the flag of the District of Columbia. The use of red and blue in flags at this time in history may derive from the relative fastness of the dyes indigo and cochineal, providing blue and red colors respectively, as aniline dyes were unknown.

The true meaning of the symbols of the flag may be tied to ancient history. Stars were a device representing man's desire to achieve greatness. The common metaphor "reaching for the stars" developed from this idea. Stars of various shapes were also important symbols in European heraldry, and stars appears in colonial flags as early as 1676 Another possibility may come from Freemasonry. Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Robert Livingston, Paul Revere, and other important people of that period belonged to the fraternal order. Some may think they may have influenced the inclusion of stars in the American flag, however, stars of this type, although sometimes used as a decorative device, like pyramids, were not an important icon in Freemasonry.

Stars carried various meanings in European heraldry, differing with the shape and number of points. Although early American flags featured stars with various numbers of points, the five-pointed star is the defining feature of the Betsy Ross design, and became the norm on Navy Ensigns. This may have been simply because five-pointed stars were more clearly defined from a distance.

The usage of stripes in the flag may be linked to two pre-existing flags. A 1765 Sons of Liberty flag flown in Boston had nine red and white stripes, and a flag used by Captain Abraham Markoe's Philadelphia Light Horse Troop in 1775 had 13 blue and silver stripes. One or both of these flags likely influenced the design of the American flag.

The most logical explanation for the colors of the American flag is that it was modeled after the first unofficial American flag, the Grand Union Flag. In turn the Grand Union Flag was probably designed using the colors of Great Britain's Union Jack. The colors of the Great Seal are the same as the colors in the American flag. To attribute meaning to these colors, Charles Thomson, who helped design the Great Seal, reported to Congress that "White signifies purity and innocence. Red hardiness and valor and Blue... signifies vigilance, perseverance and justice."

There is a possibility that the circular star configuration of the Betsy Ross Flag was inspired by the circular star configuration as a halo in a painting by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo called "The Immaculate Conception", dated around 1767 to 1769. It is a painting in the PRADO collection in Spain. Francis Hopkinson had spent time with a friend named Benjamin West, an American painter who had studied painting in Italy during the time when Giovanni Battista was a sensation both at home and abroad.