•Deborah Sampson
•Betsy Ross
•Phillis Wheatley
•Nancy Morgan Hart
•Molly Pitcher
•Abigail Adams
Deborah Sampson
• Life Summary
• Portrait of Deborah
Sampson
Deborah Sampson’s Life
• Deborah Sampson was born in Plympton, Massachusetts. She was
born on December 17, 1760. She died in 1827. She read a copy of
Tom Paine's Common Sense, and decided to make herself some
men's clothing and disguise herself as a man and fight in the
Revolutionary War as a soldier. She went to Medway, Massachusetts
and enlisted in the army as Robert Shirtliff.
• It is not certain how long Deborah served in the army but she was
wounded twice. The first time she got a sword slash on her head
during a skirmish with Loyalist soldiers near Tarrytown, New York. A
few months later she was shot in the shoulder with a musket ball. It
was not discovered that she was a woman when she got medical
help.
• Her true identity was not revealed until she got sick with yellow fever
in Philadelphia. When she rejoined her troop her doctor gave her
commanding officer a letter telling them the truth. The officers were
shocked but Deborah had earned their respect. Instead of the
punishment she expected, she received an honorable discharge from
the army.
Deborah Sampson
Betsy Ross
• Life Summary
Primary Resource
Portrait of Betsy Ross
Betsy Ross
• Betsy Ross was born in Philadelphia on January 1, 1752.
She was 21 years old when she married John Ross. Many
people say that Betsy Ross made the first flag of the United
States of America from a sketch that George Washington
gave her. In June 1776 a committee of the Continental
Congress is supposed to have given her a rough sketch for
a flag which Washington designed. Although there is no
real documentation that the story is true, there is no
evidence that it is not true. It is true that Betsy Ross was a
seamstress and made many flags during the Revolutionary
War for the Pennsylvania Navy. The design that Betsy Ross
was the first to sew for the United States was officially
adopted by Congress on June 14, 1777, The flag had
thirteen stripes and thirteen stars. Her flag-making business
did very well and was carried on even after she died by her
daughter. Betsy Ross died in Philadelphia on January 30,
1836. The United States celebrated the 200th anniversary
of her birthday with a postage stamp being made in her
honor in 1952.
"The History of the Flag of the United States" by
William Canby
A Paper read before the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania (in 1870), entitled THE HISTORY OF THE
FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES
by William J. Canby
Philadelphia
The First American Flag and Who Made It.
According to a well sustained tradition in the family of Elizabeth Claypoole (the Elizabeth Ross) this
lady is the one to whom belongs the honor of having made with her own hands the first flag. Three
of her daughters are still living who confirm this statement, not from their own knowledge, for the
flag was made before they were born, but from the recollection of their mother's often repeated
narration and from hearing it told by others who were cognizant of the facts during their childhood;
and there is also yet living a niece of Mrs Claypoole's, Mrs Margaret Boggs (now in her 95th year)
who resides with a niece in Germantown, Philadelphia, and still has full possession of all her
faculties, who remembers well the incidents of the transaction as she heard it told, in her intimate
intercourse with the family many times.
The writer of this paper in the year 1857 had a conversation on the subject with the eldest daughter
of Elizabeth Claypoole, then in active life, but since deceased, Mrs Clarissa S. Wilson, who
succeeded her mother in the business of flag and color making and continued it for many years. Mrs
Wilson's statement was put in writing at the time, as have been also the statements of her sisters
and of Mrs Boggs and the substance of them is now given.
We believe the fact is not generally known that to Philadelphia belongs the honor of having first
flung the "Star Spangled Banner" to the breeze, and that to a Philadelphia lady, long since gathered
to her fathers, belongs the honor of having made the first flag with her own hands.
Portrait of Betsy Ross
Phillis Wheatley
• Life Summary
• More of Phillis
Wheatley’s lifeprimary document
• Poems of Phillis
Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley-Life Summary
• Phillis Wheatley was born in 1753. She was a young child
when she was taken from her family in Africa with about 80
other captured people on a slave ship. The slave ship came
to Boston, Massachusetts in 1761 and a man named John
Wheatley bought Phillis.
• When Phillis was fourteen she started to write poems. She
became famous for her poetry. People from other colonies
came to meet the poet. In 1773, Phillis had a chance to go
to England. She was not even 20 years old. She was able to
get her poems published. It was the first book ever
published by a black person from North America.
• When Phillis came back to America, Boston was caught up
in the Revolutionary War. Phillis wrote a poem about
George Washington and sent it to him. General Washington
wrote back to her and thought she was very talented. But
Phillis did not have an easy life. She was sick a lot and died
when she was only 31 years old.
Phillis Wheatley ******************
Poems of Phillis Wheatley
One Being Brought From Africa To
America
'TWAS mercy brought me from my
Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there's a God, that there's a Saviour
too:
Once I redemption neither sought now
knew,
Some view our sable race with scornful
eye,
'Their colour is a diabolic die.'
Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as
Cain,
May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.
On Virtue
O Thou bright jewel in my aim I strive
To comprehend thee. Thine own words declare
Wisdom is higher than a fool can reach.
I cease to wonder, and no more attempt
Thine height t' explore, or fathom thy profound.
But, O my soul, sink not into despair,
Virtue is near thee, and with gentle hand
Would now embrace thee, hovers o'er thine head.
Fain would the heav'n-born soul with her converse,
Then seek, then court her for her promis'd bliss.
Auspicious queen, thine heav'nly pinions spread,
And lead celestial Chastity along;
Lo! now her sacred retinue descends,
Array'd in glory from the orbs above.
Attend me, Virtue, thro' my youthful years!
O leave me not to the false joys of time!
But guide my steps to endless life and bliss.
Greatness, or Goodness, say what I shall call thee,
To give me an higher appellation still,
Teach me a better strain, a nobler lay,
O thou, enthron'd with Cherubs in the realms of day.
Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley
Nancy Morgan Hart
• Summary of Life
• More on the Life of
Nancy Morgan Hart
Nancy Morgan Hart
• Nancy Morgan Hart was born in 1765 and died in 1840. She was not an
educated person but she loved the idea that everyone should be free.
She had a big heart for her friends. They say she didn't have very good
manners but she knew how to handle a gun. She was a sharpshooter.
• She made history by shooting a gun at some Loyalist soldiers who
broke into her house. First she and her daughter Sukey tricked them by
making a turkey for them. Then when the soldiers started drinking,
Nancy grabbed one of their guns and fired. She shot one of the soldiers
dead. Her daughter then handed her another musket and she fired and
killed another British soldier. They then agreed to surrender but Mrs.
Morgan Hart kept them until her husband returned. He was about to
shoot them all but his wife told them that they had surrendered and she
said that shooting was too good for them.
• So the dead men were dragged outside and the others were taken
outside and hung from a tree. This story turned out to be true many
years later when a railroad company was planning to build where the
Hart cabin was. When the railroad tore down the cabin they found six
skeletons!
Molly Pitcher
• Life of Molly Pitcher
• Movie of Molly Pitcher
Abigail Adams
• Summary of Life
• Primary Document,
letter to John Adams
Abigail Adams
• Abigail Adams was born in Massachusetts in 1744. She married John
Adams the Colonial Leader and signer of the Declaration of
Independence. He was also the second President of the United States
of America. She had ideas she would tell her husband. They were both
leaders in a fight for independence. She wanted America to break away
from Great Britain so they could make their own laws. She thought that
the women should have more power. "And in the new laws which you
will make, I wish you will remember the ladies. Be more favorable and
generous to them than your ancestors. Do not put so much power in the
hands of husbands."
• People know a lot about Abigail Adams because of the letters she wrote
to her husband while he was away. In 1774 he was in Philadelphia at
the First Continental Congress. Then he was away when the
Declaration of Independence was being signed. Abigail had a lot to do
at home when he was away. She taught her daughters and ran the
farm. She did not always think it was fair that women had to stay home.
She made people think about women's rights.