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She was later employed by the Continental Congress to make flags and colors of various kinds. There is no evidence, however, that she had anything to do with the design or the manufacturing of the American flag, contrary to popular myth.

While admitting that historians agree that there are no primary sources to support the Ross tale, the Revolutionary War Archives present the "overwhelming circumstantial evidence in support of Betsy."

Legend has it that Elizabeth "Betsy" Griscom Ross designed and sewed the first American flag. On a motion by John Adams, what is now called the Betsy Ross Flag -- 13 stripes with 13 stars in the upper left corner -- was officially adopted by the Continental Congress on 14 June 1777, and there is ample evidence that Mrs Ross manufactured flags for the Pennsylvania State Navy. But the first known claim that her involvement was more than merely sewing came in 1870, when her grandson addressed the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and said that she had told him on her deathbed that the flag's design was hers and the first flag was sewn by her hand. According to him, Ross was visited in her home in June 1776 by Robert Morris, George Ross (her husband's uncle), and George Washington, who asked her to create a new nation's flag. Other than her family's claims, there is no serious evidence linking Ross to the flag's design. When the US Post Office announced its Betsy Ross commemorative stamp in 1952, some naysayers and historians objected, citing the lack of documentation to support the story. US Postmaster General Jesse M. Donaldson responded publicly, "Even if it is a myth, it is a pleasant one ... that has been in all the history books and which all the school children love. We can't disprove it, so why not accept it?"