Front:
HATERLOO
30
1991
13165
USA 29
ISA29
NY
Back:
BETSY ROSS AND AMERICA'S FLAG
First Day of Issue: May 30, 1991
First Issue Location: Waterloo, New York
The legend of Betsy Ross and the first American flag is one
of our most enduring stories of the American Revolution.
Born Elizabeth Griscom in 1752, Betsy came from a strict
Philadelphia Quaker family. In 1773 she married John
Ross and suffered repudiation from the Society of Friends
for“marrying out of meeting." John Ross joined the militia
at the onset of the revolution but died in 1776, victim of
a gunpowder explosion. According to legend, George
Washington and several other members of a secret com-
mittee visited Betsy in 1776 and asked her to sew a flag
representative of the united thirteen colonies. Eventually
the newly-established United States Congress adopted a
U.S. flag. Although no documentation exists to prove the
flag was Betsy's model, the legend has been traditionally
accepted as fact. The design on this Maximum Card
portrays Betsy Ross lovingly sewing her America's first
flag. Together with the stamp, the design pays tribute to
Betsy Ross's efforts to give her countrymen a national
emblem worthy of their struggle for freedom.
No. 91-39
©1991 The Maximum Card Collection
A division of Unicover Corporation • Cheyenne, WY 82008-0007
® Original painting for the Maximum Card by Gregory Rudd
