The American flag has a colorful history. No one knows all the facts about how it was created. The story goes like this.

Betsy Ross ran a sewing shop in Philadelphia. In May 1776, George Washington came in. He showed her a design for a new American flag. The Grand Union looked too much like the British flag. The new flag had to stand for the new nation. Washington's idea had a six-pointed star. Ross showed him how to cut a five-pointed star. He liked what he saw and asked her to make the flag.

On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress accepted her design. It had 13 stripes, alternating red and white. It also had 13 stars, white in a blue field. Each star stood for one of the original 13 colonies.