Who created the first US flag?
Terrence Kelleman
Inventor and Founder of Mighty Wallet, 3x Inc's Fastest, 2x Shark Tank Dropout
The United States Flag is a symbol of freedom and liberty that is recognized around the world but the truth of its design origin is clouded in many myths that need to be cleared up for the sake of history and to give rightful acknowledgment to the original designers and visionaries who created this iconic symbol.
The?Red Ensign of the British Navy
It all started with the "Red Ensign" (naval flag) that the Colonies were required to fly which had the Union Jack in the upper corner of a red flag.
This partitioning of the flag into "quartered" sections was the basis for the template of our modern flag today. One can easily recognize its roots with the upper right section being separate from the rest of the design.?
By the end of 1775, during the first year of the?American Revolutionary War, the colonies needed a flag to unite their forces under and an evolution of the Red Ensign was achieved by adding white stripes.?
The?Grand Union Flag
It is not known for certain when or by whom the design of the?Grand Union Flag was created, but in this adaptation the flag could easily be produced by sewing white stripes onto the British?Red Ensigns.?
The 13 stripes represented the 13 colonies and is a design element that still carries over to the contemporary US Flag and featured on the?"Stars and Stripes Mighty Wallet".
The?"Grand Union Flag"?was the first national flag of the United States before the Declaration of Independence!
However?the new design?was not seen by the British forces as an overtly revolutionary threat and so a more radical design change was proposed to rid the flag of the Union Jack entirely.?
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The "Stars and Stripes" by Francis Hopkinson
In fact it was?in 1777 that?Francis Hopkinson, a Founding Father and signer of the Declaration of Independence,?created what most obviously resembles our modern flag with stars to replace the British Union Jack that the first iteration of the "Stars & Stripes" concept was created.
Francis Hopkinson; founding father, musician, artist and politician
Hopkinson also created?The Great Seal of the United States?and was an original designer of the first US currencies that depicted the iconic symbols of our currency today.
This?quintessential design decision to use stars to represent the different colonies over a patch of blue is what gives the United States Flag its unique identity recognized around the world.?
History is very clear in the?recognition?of the flags design by Francis Hopkinson?and there are lots of congressional records of his seeking payment for the design with?"a Quarter Cask of the public Wine" but he was continually denied payment which lead to such frustration that he left public office.?
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Evolutions of the first US Flag til today
Since the first US flag by Hopkinson the evolution of the design has taken on many variation of placements and numbers of stars and their patterns yet has never derivate from the Hopkinson design.?
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Debunking The Betsy Ross Myth
Despite?ample evidence crediting Hopkinson for the design there is this?persistent myth of Betty Ross as the creator of the flag.
This confusion comes from?the use of the word "make" which is confused with "designed". In fact Ross was commissioned to?fabricate the First flags as a seamstress?but she was not hired to "design the flag".?There is no evidence of her involvement with its design.?
This is the equivalent of?crediting a factory which produces a?Mighty Wallets for inventing?the?original Tyvek Wallet?design simply because they produced the first batch of wallets.?
Separating Fact from Fiction
Modern?scholars have debunked this myth?as there is no evidence from the time period to back up the story that?was that was told by descendants of the Ross family without any documentation.
A more?likely contribution that Ross made to the flag was a brilliant and efficient design of its stars switching them from 6 points to a 5-point star with a special folding pattern of white material that would allow a seamstress to create a star with one cut of the fabric.
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Ross was most likely hired as the producer of the flag and probably did make modifications to make the design easier to produce but was not the "designer" of the first US Flag.
So if anyone ever tells you the Myth of Betsy Ross set the record straight and tell them Francis Hopkinson was the actual designer of the Stars and Stripes.
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The Importance of Correctly Crediting Historical Contributions
Hopkinson is still not widely recognized as the original designer of the first US Flag and we owe it to our own history and national pride as American Citizens to build on the great ideas of our founders by honoring them.?
As the designer of the 1st wallet made with origami Tyvek? I've had many designers and companies come along and claim that they were "the original Tyvek? Wallet" but it's easily disproven and Dynomighty has even been recognized by DuPont, the manufacturers of Tyvek? as the original.
Stand up for Authenticity & Originality
So many Mighty Wallet fans actually post on the accounts of the copy cats and speak truth wherever they find them and I greatly appreciate you letting other customers know they are buying a knock off.
In a world of mis-truths, alternative facts and whole fictions, it's important that we stand up for original design because it's a force for innovation and change in our society and culture.?
There are too many inventors and creators who?go uncredited for their contributions and we should lift them up and honor them lest history forget who brought us here.?
BE MIGHTY
Terrence Kelleman