Flags and Symbols

Here is the well-known flag of the United States of America which was designed in 1776 by Betsy Ross for George Washington, so they say:







Here is the not-so-well-known flag of the British East India Company that was used from 1707 to 1858 when the union flag in the canton was updated to the form it has today:








Could the U.S. flag and what it represents have anything to do with the people who were running the BEIC? People don't usually adopt symbols used by people they don't like. Do they? What did the BEIC stand for? Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness? Didn't Americans rebel over tea and taxes? Or was the war for independence really about something else? Did Betsy Ross really design the flag? What was the Grand Union Flag? What was the first flag of the United States Navy?

There are so many unanswered questions…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_United_States#First_flag