Great Seal of the United States

Learn more about Great Seal of the United States

Obverse

The Great Seal of the United States is used to authenticate certain documents issued by the United States government. The phrase is used both for the physical seal itself, (which is in the keeping of the U.S. Secretary of State), and more generally for the design impressed upon it. The Great Seal was publicly first used in 1782.

Though the United States has never adopted any "national coat of arms", the image from the obverse of the great seal is often used informally as national arms, and is used on State documents such as passports in this capacity. The description below refers to colored representations of the seal as often seen; the physical Great Seal itself, as affixed to paper, is, of course, monochrome.

Since 1935, both sides of the Great Seal appear on the reverse of the One-Dollar Bill of the United States.

1 Design
- 1.1 Obverse
- 1.2 Reverse
2 History
3 Significance
4 Current Seal
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Design

[edit] Obverse

The main figure on the obverse, (or front), of the Seal is a Bald Eagle with its wings outstretched (or "displayed", in heraldic terms). From the eagle's perspective, it holds a bundle of thirteen arrows in its left talon, (referring to the thirteen original states), and an olive branch, (having thirteen leaves and thirteen olives), in its right talon, symbolic respectively of war and peace, (see: Olive Branch Petition). The eagle has its head turned towards the olive branch, symbolizing a preference for peace. The eagle clutches the motto "E Pluribus Unum", ("Out of Many, One"), in its beak; over its head there appears a "glory" with thirteen stars on a blue field. The thirteen stars above the eagle form a Star of David.

The shield the eagle bears on its breast, though sometimes drawn incorrectly, has two main differences from the American flag. First, it has no stars on the blue chief, (though other arms based on it do: the Chief of the Arms of the United States Senate shows thirteen, and the shield sometimes used by the September 11 Commission has fifty mullets on the chief). Second, unlike the American flag, the outermost stripes are white, not red; so as not to violate the heraldic rule of "color on color." The shield is usually blazoned Paly of thirteen argent and gules, a chief azure, a technically incorrect blazon under traditional Western heraldic rules, since a shield cannot be paly, (i.e., vertically striped), of an uneven number. A more proper blazon would be argent, six pallets gules… (six red stripes on a white field), something recognized at the time of its adoption,[1] but the incorrect blazon was chosen since it preserves the reference to the thirteen original colonies.

Abstract of all elements counting thirteen:

13 stars
13 stripes
13 arrows in the eagle’s talon
13 letters in the motto
13 olive leaves
13 olives on the branch
13 brick levels of the pyramid
13 letters and numerals combined in the Roman Numeral (MDCCLXXVI; 9) and Hindu-Arabic numeral (1776; 4) of 1776

Image:USA Great Seal Reverse.png

Reverse

[edit] Reverse

An unfinished pyramid with thirteen layers of blocks on the reverse of the seal, inscribed on its base with the date 1776 in Roman numerals. Where the top of the pyramid should be, the so-called Eye of Providence watches over it. The shadow cast by the pyramid from the rising sun represents the undiscovered lands to the west. The sun, which is rising, represents that a new nation has begun. Two mottos appear: Annuit Cœptis signifies that the Eye of Providence has "nodded at (our) beginnings."<ref>Journals of the Continental Congress, June 20, 1782</ref> Novus Ordo Seclorum, freely taken from Virgil, means "a new order of the ages" (commonly, and imprecisely, rendered New World Order). The reverse has never been cut (as a Seal) but appears, for example, on the back of the one-dollar bill.

The all-seeing eye was a well-known classical symbol of the Renaissance. The all-seeing eye of God is mentioned several times in the Christian Bible^{[citation needed]}. The eye in a triangle design originally was suggested by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere, and later heraldist William Barton improved upon the design. In Du Simitière's original sketch, two figures stand next to a shield with the all-seeing pyramid above them. The August 20, 1776 report of the first Great Seal Committee describes the seal as "Crest The Eye of Providence in a radiant Triangle whose Glory extends over the Shield and beyond the Figures."

[edit] History

Image:Great Seal of US, Recto Design, 1782.png

Design for the recto of the Great Seal, 1782.

On July 4, 1776, the same day that independence from England was declared by the thirteen states, the Continental Congress named the first committee to design a Great Seal, or national emblem, for the country. Similar to other nations, America needed an official symbol of sovereignty to formalize and seal (or sign) international treaties and transactions. It took six years and three committees in order for the Continental Congress to agree on a design.

The first of these committees was formed by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams. Each of these men proposed a design for the seal. Franklin chose an allegorical scene that demonstrated the Motto, "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God." This scene would depict the scene from Exodus, where the Israelite people confronted a tyrant in order to gain their freedom. Jefferson suggested a depiction of the children of Israel in the wilderness, led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night for the front of the seal and Hengist and Horsa, the two brothers who were the legendary leaders of the first Anglo-Saxon settlers in Britain, for the reverse side of the seal. Adams chose the painting known as the "Judgment of Hercules" where the young Hercules must choose to travel either on the flowery path of self-indulgence or the rugged, more difficult, uphill path of duty to others and honor to himself. Of these intitial designs, Congress ultimately chose none but did use two of the design elements from this committee in its final design.

Finally the problem was turned over to Charles Thomson, the Secretary of the Congress, who merged elements from all three previous attempts. Congress finally approved Thomson's integrated design on June 20, 1782, still in use today; and had it engraved into brass cylinders, ("matrices"), about 2.25 inches in diameter.

Image:Great Seal of US, Verso Design, 1782.png

Design for the verso of the Great Seal, 1782.

On September 16, 1782 Thomson used these matrices for the first time, to verify signatures on a document that authorized George Washington to negotiate an exchange of prisoners. Thomson took care of the Seal until the Constitution installed a new American Government in 1789, when he passed it over to the Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson. All subsequent Secretaries of State have been responsible for applying the Seal to diplomatic documents.

The first matrices of the seal were replaced in 1841 when they became too worn to be effective.

Image:GreatSealofUS,FirstDie.gif

First Die of the Great Seal of the United States, 1782.

There have been a total of seven re-engravings of the Seal since the original, which is now on display in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

[edit] Significance

The symbolism of the seal is obvious—the shield is reminiscent of the national flag, and the Bald Eagle is a well-known national symbol of the United States.

One historical question centers on the pattern of the glory of stars on the obverse. Some historians believe that Haym Solomon, the financial genius and banker of the American Revolution, played a role in the Seal's design. Solomon was Jewish, and the stars appear to be arranged, roughly, in a Star of David pattern; it has been suggested by some historians that George Washington authorized it for Haym Solomon's efforts. It was only towards the end of the nineteenth century that the individual stars were drawn with only five points.

That of the reverse is more murky. Many consider the eye atop the pyramid to have its origins in Masonic iconography[2]. However, the icon is not solely a Masonic symbol, nor designed by a Mason (other religious groups and cults use it). Among the Great Seal committee, Benjamin Franklin was the only one confirmed to be a Mason^{[citation needed]}, but his ideas were not adopted by the committee.

[edit] Current Seal

The obverse side of the Great Seal is used to emboss the design on international treaties and other official United States Government documents. It is stored in the Exhibit Hall of the U.S. Department of State inside a locked glass enclosure. An officer from the State Department does the actual sealing of documents after the U.S. Secretary of State has countersigned the President's signature. It is used approximately 2,000 to 3,000 times a year.