The widow Betsy Ross had an
upholstery business. She met
with George Washington, George
Ross, and Robert Morris to plan
the "stars and stripes” flag. The
men suggested using a sixpointed star, saying that these
new five-pointed stars would be
unfamiliar and difficult for
seamstresses to make. Betsy
folded a piece of paper, made a
single scissor snip, and revealed a
perfect five-pointed star. She
later sewed the first flag.
North Carolina & the Flag
“Once the founding fathers wrote the Constitution, each state had to ratify it. I
like new words, do you? ‘Ratify’ simply means that each state would say ‘okay,
we’ll go along with these laws.’ Guess what? North Carolina said NO! Wylie Jones
(pronounced Willie), a wealthy planter who was very outspoken, told our state
legislature that we needed guarantees of rights for the common man and no where
did he see that in the Constitution. He convinced our representatives that unless
they wrote a ‘Bill of Rights’ to go along with the Constitution, North Carolina
would not sign.
State after state ratified the Constitution and after nine did, it became the law
of the land. North Carolina still held out. George Washington wrote our state
legislature as did others, informing us that a Bill of Rights was being written. This
helped convince our legislators that the new government was looking out for
individual citizens. Finally, after an entire year of talking about it, North Carolina
finally ratified the Constitution. We were the twelfth state to say ‘okay!’ Little
Rhode Island was the thirteen and final state to ratify, but if you remember, they
had not even sent representatives to Philadelphia for the convention.
Each state was given a star on the flag when they joined the United States. We
were the twelfth state officially to join the United States under the Constitution. I
like those stupid questions like ‘Who’s buried in Grant’s tomb, don’t you?’ Well
here’s one, ‘Which star on the flag belongs to North Carolina?’ You’re right! The
twelfth star is North Carolina’s. Let’s find it.” The thirteen stripes stand for the
thirteen original colonies.