The Origin of the Flag Today, scholars still debate who sewed the first American flag. Many legends surround its first creation or birth. One legend that comes down from 1776 says that George Washington commissioned seamstress Betsy Ross of Philadelphia to sew a flag that would represent the new nation. Ross knew Washington and sewed many flags. On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed a resolution calling for a national banner. "Resolved, that the Flag of the thirteen United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation," they wrote. The flag's 13 red and white stripes represent the 13 original colonies. Each star in the blue field represents each of the 50 states in the Union.