<Li> It is not unusual that Ross, an upholsterer, would have been paid to sew flags . There was a sudden and urgent need for them, and other Philadelphia upholsterers were also paid to sew flags in 1777 and years following . </Li> <P> Supporters of the Ross story make the following arguments: </P> <Ul> <Li> Robert Morris was a business partner of John Ross, Betsy's cousin by marriage . He also had served with George Ross on the Marine Committee . </Li> <Li> George Washington was in Philadelphia in Spring 1776, where he served on a committee with John Ross' uncle George Read, and Congress approved $50,000 for the acquisition of tents and "sundry articles" for the Continental Army . </Li> <Li> On May 29, 1777, Betsy Ross was paid a large sum of money from the Pennsylvania State Navy Board for making flags . </Li> <Li> Morris was on the Marine Committee at the time the flag vote was taken as part of Marine Committee business . </Li> <Li> Rachel Fletcher, Betsy Ross's daughter, gave an affidavit to the Betsy Ross story . </Li> <Li> A painting which might be dated 1851 by Ellie Wheeler, allegedly the daughter of Thomas Sully, shows Betsy Ross sewing the flag . If the painting is authentic and the date correct, the story was known nearly 20 years before Canby's presentation to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Robert Morris was a business partner of John Ross, Betsy's cousin by marriage . He also had served with George Ross on the Marine Committee . </Li>

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