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Before it adjourned on July 4, 1776, theContinental Congress of the newlyindependent United States passed aresolution:

Resolved, that Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adamsand Mr. Jefferson, be a committee, tobring in a device for a seal for the UnitedStates of America.

Thus, three of the five men who haddrafted the Declaration of Indepen-dence were brought together in furtherservice to their country. The revolution-aries needed an emblem and nationalcoat of arms to give visible evidence ofa sovereign nation and a free peoplewith high aspirations and grand hopesfor the future. The task proved far moredifficult than anticipated; it took sixyears, two more committees, and thecombined efforts of 14 men before theGreat Seal of the United States becamea reality on June 20, 1782.

The Great Sealof the United States

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Designinga Seal

The First CommitteeThe challenge facing the committee was totranslate intangible principles and idealsinto graphic symbols. Three of the bestminds of the Age of Enlightenment—Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson—struggledunsuccessfully with Biblical and classicalthemes, including the Children of Israel inthe Wilderness and the Judgement ofHercules. Finally they sought the help of atalented “drawer” and portrait artist,Pierre Eugene du Simitiere. To the post ofconsultant, Du Simitiere brought someknowledge of heraldry—the art of describ-ing coats of arms—and also experience indesigning seals.

Four features recommended by the firstcommittee and its consultant were lateradopted in the final seal: the Eye of Provi-dence and the date of independence(MDCCLXXVI), both of which appeared onthe final reverse side of the seal, and theshield and Latin motto, E Pluribus Unum(Out of many, one), on the obverse side.

The first committee submitted its designon August 20, 1776, but the Congress or-dered the report “to lie on the table,” indi-cating lack of approval.

Portrait artist DuSimitiere’s design forFranklin, Adams, andJefferson suggestedshield, Eye of Provi-dence in radianttriangle, and motto, EPluribus Unum, all usedin final design. Drawnfrom original in ThomasJefferson papers.

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The Second CommitteeIn March 1780, the Congress turned thedesign and final report of the first commit-tee over to a new committee, composedof James Lovell, John Morin Scott, andWilliam Churchill Houston. They askedFrancis Hopkinson, the gifted Philadel-phian who had designed the American flagand the great seal of the State of New Jer-sey, to serve as their consultant. They toofailed to create an acceptable seal, but, in-fluenced by the flag adopted in 1777, theycontributed to the final design 13 red andwhite stripes, the constellation of 13 six-pointed stars, and the olive branch, a sym-bol of peace.

Great Seal Origins

Great seals have their ori-gins in the royal seals ofthe 7th, 8th, and 9th cen-turies, but the first seal tobe called “great” was thatof England’s King John(1199-1216). The King’sChamber acquired asmaller seal of its own,called the “privy seal,” foruse in the sovereign’s pri-vate business, and there-after the King’s seal be-came known as the “GreatSeal.” The U.S. seal iscalled “Great Seal” al-though no “lesser” sealexists. ❏

Second committee’s consultant, FrancisHopkinson, contributed red, white, andblue colors to shield, an arrow and olivebranch, and radiant constellation of 13stars.

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The Third CommitteeIn May 1782 the Congress appointed athird committee. The three members—John Rutledge, Arthur Middleton, and EliasBoudinot—did little or no serious work

themselves, relying on the ser-vices of William Barton of Phila-delphia. A young lawyer withartistic skill and well versed inheraldry, he became a centralfigure in the seal’s refinement. Barton’s chief contribution atthis stage was the eagle, notthe American bald eagle, but asmall crested white eagle “dis-played” (with its wings spread).He combined it with a smallflag and a design for the re-verse which contained a 13-stepunfinished pyramid and the

first committee’s Eye of Providence. Hequickly drew up two designs and theirtechnical explanations, and the committeeturned in its report five days after it wasappointed.

Charles Thomson’s ProposalThe Congress still was not satisfied. OnJune 13, 1782, it presented the collectedwork and recommendations of the threecommittees to Charles Thomson, Secretaryof Congress. Thomson was not an artist,but he was a practical man with the abilityto get things done. He selected the bestfeatures of all the previous designs, assign-ing prominence to the eagle. Feeling thatthe new nation’s symbol should be strictlyAmerican, however, Thomson replacedBarton’s crested Imperial eagle with the na-tive American bald eagle, wings extendingdownward as though in flight. He placedin the left talon a bundle of arrows and inthe right, the olive branch.

Lawyer William Barton’sdesign for third commit-tee combined whiteeagle, flag, and reverseside with 13-steppyramid and firstcommittee’s Eye ofProvidence.

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Thomson’s modified crest (a deviceplaced above the shield) was a constella-tion of 13 stars surrounded by clouds. Theshield, borne on the eagle’s breast, was achevron design with alternating red andwhite stripes. Adopting the motto EPluribus Unum from the first committee’sreport, Thomson included it on a scrollclenched in the eagle’s beak. His was thefirst proposal in which the final design ofthe obverse can be seen.

In his design of the seal’s reverse,Thomson retained the pyramid with theEye of Providence in a triangle at the ze-nith and, as products of his Latin scholar-ship, introduced the mottos Annuit Coeptis(He [God] has favored our undertakings)over the eye and Novus Ordo Seclorum (A

Secretary of CongressCharles Thomson unitedearlier suggestions, gavethem fresh and novelarrangement, pleasing inits simplicity and lack ofclutter. His design wasfirst to foreshadow oneCongress adopted.

Charles Thomson’s “Remarks and Explanation,” Adopted bythe Continental Congress, June 20, 1782

“The Escutcheon is composed of the chief [upper part of shield] & pale[perpendicular band], the two most honorable ordinaries [figures of heraldry].The Pieces, paly [alternating pales], represent the several states all joined inone solid compact entire, supporting a Chief, which unites the whole &represents Congress. The Motto alludes to this union. The pales in the armsare kept closely united by the Chief and the Chief depends on that union & thestrength resulting from it for its support, to denote the Confederacy of theUnited States of America & the preservation of their union through Congress.

“The colours of the pales are those used in the flag of the United States ofAmerica; White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valour, andBlue, the colour of the Chief signifies vigilance, perseverance & justice. TheOlive branch and arrows denote the power of peace & war which is exclu-sively vested in Congress. The Constellation denotes a new State taking itsplace and rank among other sovereign powers. The Escutcheon is born on thebreast of an American Eagle without any other supporters [figures repre-sented as holding up the shield] to denote that the United States of Americaought to rely on their own Virtue.

“Reverse. The pyramid signifies Strength and Duration: The Eye over it & theMotto allude to the many signal interpositions of providence in favour of theAmerican cause. The date underneath is that of the Declaration of Indepen-dence and the words under it signify the beginning of the New American Æra,which commences from that date.” ❏

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new order of the ages) beneath the pyra-mid. He gave his rough sketches and re-ports to Barton, depending on him to pol-ish the designs.

The Final “Device”

Barton portrayed the eagle with its wingsdisplayed, but with wing tips upward, andsimplified Thomson’s chevron arrangementof stripes on the shield. He arranged 13vertical stripes, alternately white and red,below a rectangular blue “chief” (upperpart of the shield). And he specified thatthe arrows in the eagle’s left talon shouldnumber 13.

The designs were returned to Thomsonon June 19, 1782. He made a few alter-ations and overnight produced the “bla-zon” (written description) with accompany-ing “Remarks and Explanation” and pre-sented them to the Continental Congresson June 20. The Congress acted the sameday to adopt the report, which did notcontain a drawing of either design.

Thus, nearly six years after establishmentof the first committee, Charles Thomsonand William Barton “brought in a device.”The Great Seal of the United States wasunique—simple and uncluttered, yet bold—the composite product of many minds.

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Symbolically, the seal reflects the beliefs andvalues that the Founding Fathers attached tothe new nation and wished to pass on to theirdescendants. The report which Thomson sub-mitted to the Congress explained the obversethis way: The red and white stripes of theshield “represent the several states... support-ing a [blue] Chief which unites the whole andrepresents Congress.” The colors are adoptedfrom the American flag: “White signifies pu-rity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valour,and Blue, the colour of the Chief, signifiesvigilance, perseverance & justice.” The shield,or escutcheon, is “born on the breast of anAmerican Eagle without any other supportersto denote that the United States of Americaought to rely on their own Virtue.”

The number 13, denoting the 13 originalStates, is represented in the bundle of arrows,the stripes of the shield, and the stars of theconstellation. The olive branch and the arrows“denote the power of peace & war.” The con-stellation of stars symbolizes a new nationtaking its place among other sovereign states.The motto E Pluribus Unum, emblazonedacross the scroll and clenched in the eagle’sbeak, expresses the union of the 13 States. Re-cent scholarship has pointed out the probablesource of this motto: Gentlemen’s Magazine,published in London from 1732 to 1922, waswidely read by the educated in the AmericanColonies. Its title page carried that samemotto and it is quite possible that it influencedthe creators of the seal.

The reverse, sometimes referred to as thespiritual side of the seal, contains the 13-steppyramid with the year 1776 in Roman numer-als on the base. At the summit of the pyramidis the Eye of Providence in a triangle sur-rounded by a Glory (rays of light) and aboveit appears the motto Annuit Coeptis. Along thelower circumference of the design appear thewords Novus Ordo Seclorum, heralding the be-ginning of the new American era in 1776.

Meaning of the Seal

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1782The first die was cut from brass in 1782 byan engraver who has not been positivelyidentified (possibly Robert Scot of Philadel-phia). It is thought that Charles Thomson,since he was to have custody of the seal asSecretary of the Continental Congress,took it upon himself to find an engraverand someone to supply a suitable press. IfThomson provided a drawing to the en-graver, it has disappeared and no drawingmade by the engraver has been found. Inany case, the seal and its press came intoexistence sometime between June and Sep-tember 1782. They were placed in the StateHouse in Philadelphia and on September16, Thomson used them for the first time.That first sealed document was a fullpower authorizing General Washington tonegotiate and sign with the British anagreement for the exchange, subsistence,and better treatment of prisoners of war. Itwas signed by President of the ContinentalCongress John Hanson and countersignedby Secretary Thomson. Thomson contin-ued as keeper of the seal until the Con-gress handed over power to the new gov-ernment in 1789 and custody of the sealpassed to the Secretary of State.

The 1782 seal, now on public display inthe National Archives, is rather archaic inappearance. It measures 25/16 inches in di-ameter and carries a relatively crude ren-dering of a crested eagle,1 thin-legged andawkward, its head protruding into the con-stellation of six-pointed stars. The bundleof 13 arrows and the olive branch, bare offruit, are pressed against the border ofmodified acanthus leaves.

1The eagle on the Great Seal has always facedto its own right. The eagle that faced to its ownleft (toward the arrows) was in the Presidentialseal and this was the design President Trumanaltered in 1945 when he ordered the eagle’s headturned toward the olive branch.

The Die Is Cut

First Great Seal, possiblyengraved by Robert Scotof Philadelphia in 1782.Brass die of seal was inuse almost 60 years.

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Great Seal of 1841,engraved in steel by JohnPeter Van Ness Throop ofWashington, DC. Itdeparted from 1782design by showing onlysix arrows in eagle’s clawand by giving stars five,rather than six, points. Italso added fruit to olivebranch.

1841By 1841, the original die of 1782 hadbecome worn, and a new steel diewas cut by John Peter Van NessThroop of Washington, DC. This diehas been called “the illegal seal” be-cause of its faulty design. Whereasthe law called for 13 arrows in theleft talon, Throop gave his eagle only6. It is assumed that he didn’t workfrom the text of the resolution of1782 but rather from an impressionmade by the worn, original die,which would have shown a bundle ofarrows but perhaps not the precise

number. This may also account for the factthat he engraved five-pointed stars,2 in-stead of the heraldic six-pointed stars ofthe original. However, these departuresfrom the official design didn’t affect the le-gality of the documents on which this sealwas affixed.

The Throop die is steel, 23/8 inches in di-ameter, about the same size as the original.In fact, it is thought that the same presswas used for both. But the differences instyle are marked: The border is withoutacanthus leaves; the whole design has beencrowded upward; the eagle is more vigor-ous and uncrested; two arcs, instead of astraight line, form the top of the shield;and the olive branch bears fruit, i.e., fourolives.

In early 1866, a crude counter-die of thedie was cut for the first time and put intouse. It was a duplicate cut in relief, appar-ently in bronze. Its purpose was to im-prove the impression from the die when adocument was pressed between them.However, the impressions grew less dis-tinct and the die was retired after some 36years of use.

2This innovation has been carried from die todie through the one now in use.

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The Great Sealof the United States

Obverse Side of the Great Seal

The most prominent feature is the Ameri-can bald eagle supporting the shield, or es-cutcheon, which is composed of 13 red andwhite stripes, representing the originalStates, and a blue top which unites theshield and represents Congress. The motto,E Pluribus Unum (Out of many, one), al-ludes to this union. The olive branch and 13arrows denote the power of peace and war,which is exclusively vested in Congress.The constellation of stars denotes a newState taking its place and rank among othersovereign powers (see next pages).

Reverse Side of the Great Seal

The pyramid signifies strength and dura-tion: The eye over it and the motto, AnnuitCoeptis (He [God] has favored our under-takings), allude to the many interventionsof Providence in favor of the Americancause. The date underneath is that of theDeclaration of Independence and the wordsunder it, Novus Ordo Seclorum (A new or-der of the ages), signify the beginning ofthe new American era in 1776 (see nextpages).

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Obverse Side of the Great Seal

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Reverse Side of the Great Seal