Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson were well-known by members of the Congress. They were three of the five men who had signed the Declaration of Independence. Patriots they were, and duty-bound. Three of the greatest minds of the Age of Enlightenment were asked to work together again.
A need for a traditional coat-of-arms weighed heavy on the revolutionaries. Congress asked these three men to design an emblem that would be visible evidence of a sovereign nation and a free people. A coat of arms or seal was the usual form of expressing a nation’s individuality as well as independence.
Franklin’s, Jefferson’s, and Adams’ suggestions were similar in their use of Biblical and mythological themes, which included the Children of Israel in the Wilderness. The first team employed an artist for inspiration. Pierre Eugene Du Simitière had some knowledge of heraldry, the art of describing coats of arms, and experience in designing seals.
Four features recommended by the first committee were adopted in the final seal. The Eye of Providence and the date of independence, both appeared on the reverse side of the seal. The shield and Latin motto, E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one), on the obverse (front) side. All four suggestions came from Du Simitière.
The first committee submitted its design on August 20, 1776, but Congress ordered the report “to lie on the table,” indicating its lack of approval.
The eye in a triangle and the motto E Pluribus Unum were Du Simitière’s most important contributions to the seal design. His source of the motto was probably the Gentleman’s Magazine, published in London, which carried E Pluribus Unum on its title page.
In January 1777, Congress officially rejected suggestions of the First Team. A second committee was formed in March 1780.
Congress gave the work of the First Team to the new committee, composed of James Lovell, John Morin Scott, and William Churchill Houston. They asked Francis Hopkinson to serve as their art consultant. Hopkinson was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was an artist, musician, lawyer, and had knowledge of heraldry which helped him design the American flag and the great seal of the state of New Jersey.
The second committee failed to create an acceptable seal. But Hopkinson’s ideas of white and red stripes within a blue background for the shield, a radiant constellation of thirteen six-pointed stars, and an olive branch were influential in the final design of the seal.
In May 1782 Congress appointed a third committee. The three members, John Rutledge, Arthur Middleton, and Elias Boudinot, did little serious work themselves. Instead, they relied on the services of William Barton, a young lawyer with artistic skill and well-versed in heraldry.
Barton’s chief contribution was the eagle, not the American bald eagle, but a small crested white eagle displayed (wings spread). His design for the reverse side contained a thirteen-step, unfinished pyramid, and the first committee’s Eye of Providence. Barton took five days to complete the committee’s work.
Congress still was not satisfied. Three up, three down. What to do? Give it to someone who gets things done, of course.
In the spring of 1782, Congress felt an urgency to finalize the Great Seal. The United States had won their long battle for independence and England was ready to recognize the new republic as a sovereign nation. A national seal would soon be needed to ratify the peace treaty.
On June 13, 1782 Congress presented the collected work and recommendations of the three committees to Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress. Thomson was not an artist, nor did he have a great knowledge of heraldry, but he was a practical man with the ability to get things done.
Thomson was familiar with the work on the seal, he had enlisted the personnel of each committee and was the contact person for Congress. He was impressed with Barton’s work on the third committee, so he enlisted Barton to help create a design that Congress would approve.
Thomson selected the best features of all the previous designs and gave prominence to the eagle. He believed the nation’s symbol should be strictly American, so he replaced Barton’s Imperial eagle with the American bald eagle. He then placed a bundle of arrows in the eagle’s left talon and an olive branch in the right.
The shield on the eagle’s breast was a chevron design, with alternating red and white stripes. The crest, the area above the shield, was a constellation of thirteen stars surrounded by clouds. The motto E Pluribus Unum was taken from the first committee’s report and written on a scroll clenched in the eagle’s beak.
For the seal’s reverse side, Thomson retained the pyramid with the Eye of Providence in a triangle at the top. He placed the mottos Annuit Coeptis (He [God] has favored our undertakings) over the eye and Novus Ordo Seclorum (A new order of the ages) beneath the pyramid. Thomson then gave his sketches to Barton to polish up.
The Final Device
Barton displayed the eagle’s wings pointed upward and for the chevron he arranged thirteen vertical stripes, alternately white and red, below a rectangular blue chief (upper part of the shield). His specifications called for thirteen arrows in the eagle’s left talon and an olive branch in the right.
Barton returned the two designs to Thomson on June 19, 1782. Thomson made a few alterations and wrote a description along with his Remarks and Explanation and presented the package to the Continental Congress on June 20. Congress approved the report the same day.
The task to design an emblem was more difficult than anticipated. The job took six years, three committees, and the combined efforts of fourteen men. Thomson and Barton brought in the device that Congress had originally asked the First Team to accomplish.
Along with the official story of the origin of the Great Seal, a myth arose about an ‘unknown man’ who presented the founders with a finished design of the seal.
The passing of the design was said to have happened during the time the First Team was working on the seal. Jefferson had gone out to the garden to get a breath of fresh air. In a few minutes he came back into the room. “I have it. I have it,” he said. He was holding a clump of papers. The papers turned out to be plans for the Great Seal, as we know it today.
How, or where, did Jefferson get the plans? He told a strange story about a man wearing a black cloak. Jefferson said the man produced an envelope from his cloak and said, “This is what you are looking for.” Jefferson took the package and attempted to engage the man in conversation, but the man was gone. He had vanished.
After the excitement died down, the First Team went out into the garden to see if the stranger was still there, but there was no sign of him. Who was that man?
Some esoteric researchers suggest that our knowledge of the seal’s history and meaning will always be incomplete because its inspiration came from an unseen, secret, or unknown source. This hidden source has been described as a secret society, invisible and unverifiable to our senses, but represented by the Freemasons, Rosicrucians, and the Illuminati.
The meaning of the Great Seal
Symbolically, the seal reflects the beliefs and values the founding fathers attached to the new nation and wanted to pass on to their descendants.
The breast of the bald eagle is adorned by a shield of Pales (thirteen vertical stripes), alternately white and red. There are seven white and six red stripes. The shield supports a blue Chief (top horizontal bar) that unites the whole and represents Congress. The colors were taken from the American flag that has seven red and six white stripes. White signifies purity and innocence. Red stands for hardiness and valor. Blue signifies vigilance, perseverance, and justice.
The shield, or escutcheon, is born on the eagle’s breast without any other supporters to signify that the United States of America ought to rely on their own virtue.
The stripes are kept closely united by the Chief. The Chief depends upon the union and the strength resulting from the whole to support the Confederacy of the United States of America and to preserve their union through Congress.
In heraldry, the shield and motto complement each other. Charles Thomson thought the first committee’s motto, E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one), best captured the shield’s symbolism. Thus, he put it on the scroll in the Eagle’s beak.
Baldy’s strong right talon clutches an olive branch denoting peace, the left holds a bundle of thirteen arrows signifying the power of war. In heraldry, the symbol in a figure’s right hand has more importance than the one in its left. Heraldic birds traditionally look the right.
Golden rays of light break through a cloud surrounding the silver constellation of thirteen stars on a blue field. The number thirteen represents the thirteen original states. The constellation of stars symbolizes a new nation taking its place among other sovereign powers.
The shape of individual stars was not mentioned in Thomson’s written description of the seal. In his original sketch the stars are indicated by asterisks. Evidently there was no intended symbolic significance to their shape. An artist can depict the stars with five, six, or more points.
The shape of the constellation itself was not specified either. Preliminary sketches show the stars in a random arrangement. According to the laws of heraldry, the arrangement should be natural, not shaped into a pattern of any kind. All dies of the Great Seal, however, have depicted the thirteen stars in the shape of a hexagram. A hexagram is composed of two intersecting triangles, symbolizing the union of celestial and terrestrial energy.
The reverse, sometimes referred to as the spiritual side of the seal, contains the thirteen-step pyramid with the year 1776 in Roman numerals on the base. Thomson said the date is that of the Declaration of Independence and the words Novus Ordo Seclorum (a new order of the ages) signify the beginning of the new American Era.
At the summit of the pyramid is the Eye of Providence in a triangle surrounded by a Glory (rays of light) and above that appears the motto Annuit Coeptis (He [God] has favored our undertakings). The meaning refers to the many interventions of God in favor of the American cause.
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” – Closing sentence of the Declaration of Independence.
What better symbol than an eye to represent a watchful, protective, and loving, omniscient God? The human eye is a marvelous creation, one that certainly suggests the work of a Creator.
The first die of the obverse, or front side, of the Great Seal was cut on September 16,1782 to seal the peace with England. It was first used on a document authorizing General Washington to negotiate an agreement for the exchange, subsistence, and better treatment of prisoners of war.
New dies for the obverse side have been cut as the previous ones became worn. But each time the reverse went uncut and unused.
The design for the reverse was made available by the Continental Congress in case it was desired to impress the back surfaces of wax pendant seals. The United States used pendant seals for treaties from 1815 to 1871, but the backs were never impressed. Enthusiasm for cutting a die of the reverse has diminished, and to this day one has not been cut. The current official design of the reverse of the Great Seal can be seen on the $1 bill.
Yep, you've seen it before.
