68 
SCOUTING FOR GIRLS 
in this country, which is now the United States, they 
brought with them the flags of their home countries* 
and planted them on the new territory in symbol of 
taking possession of it in the name of their liege kings 
and lands. Gradually the colonies came to belong to 
England, and the Union Jack became the flag of all, 
with the thirteen colonies represented by thirteen 
stripes and the Union Jack in the corner. This flag 
was known as the Grand Union or Cambridge Flag, 
and was displayed when Washington first took com- 
mand of the army at Cambridge. It was raised on 
December 3, 1775, on the Alfred , flagship of the new 
little American Navy, by the senior Lieutenant of the 
ship, John Paul Jones, who later defended it gallantly 
in man}' battles at sea. 
On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence 
was signed in Philadelphia and the United Colonies 
dissolved all ties that bound them to England and be- 
came an independent nation — the United States. It 
was immediately necessary to adopt a new flag, as the 
new nation would not use the Union Jack. Tradition 
says that in the latter part of May, 1776, George Wash- 
ington, Robert Morris and Colonel Ross called on 
Betsy Ross in Philadelphia to make the first flag, which 
they designed. They kept the thirteen stripes of the 
Colonial flag, but replaced the Union Jack by a blue 
field bearing thirteen stars, arranged in a circle. 
The birthday of the flag was June 4, 1777, when 
Congress passed this resolution : Resolved : That the 
flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes; 
alternate red and white ; that the union be thirteen 
stars, white on a blue field, representing a constellation. 
The first American unfurling the Stars and Stripes 
over a warship was John Paul Jones when he took 
command of the Rayer in June, 1777. Tradition says 
