of which it may be proud.
Franklin, under its authority, issued letters of marque with a lavish
hand, but, hard-pressed as the colonists were, he bade John Paul Jones
"not to burn defenseless towns on the British coast except in case of
military necessity; and in such cases he was to give notice, so that
the women and children with the sick and aged inhabitants might be
removed betimes." Moreover, he bade all American cruisers if they
chanced to meet Captain Cook, the great English explorer of that day,
to "forget the temporary quarrel in which they were fighting and not
merely suffer him to pass unmolested, but offer him every aid and
service in their power."

CHAPTER VII

THE FIRST UNITED STATES FLAG

The "society of people at Philadelphia calling themselves the
continental congress" had had, so far as records go, nothing to do with
choosing any flag. The "Grand Union" unfurled at Cambridge was regarded
as symbolizing the union of colonies, but no one knows who designed it
or chose it. To alter the design of our flag to-day would be a very
serious matter, but the colonies were so accustomed to the making of
flags according to the whim of some militia company or some sea captain
that the appearance of a new design, especially one so slightly changed
from the familiar flag of the mother country, cannot have created any
great sensation. Moreover, flags were not for sale at department stores;
they had to be ordered, and in this time of war, bunting was not easy to
procure. Flag-makers were few, and many a captain sailed away with a
flag manufactured by his wife's own unaccustomed hands.

July 4, 1776, less than fifteen months after the battle of Lexington,
it was declared in Congress "That these united colonies are, and of
right ought to be, free and independent states." June 14, 1777, the
following resolution was adopted:--

_Resolved_, That the flag of the thirteen United States be
thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be
thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new
constellation.

So much for the share that Congress had in the flag. The story of the
making of the first flag with stars and stripes is as follows. Betsy
Ross, or, to speak more respectfully, Mrs. Elizabeth Griscom Ross,
lived on Arch Street, Philadelphia, in a tiny house of two stories and
an attic. She was called the most skillful needlewoman in the
city, and there is a tradition that be