Great Seal of the United States
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 represented upon it. The Great Seal was first publicly 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.
Obverse
The main figure on the obverse (front) of the seal is a
Bald Eagle with its wings outstretched ("displayed", in
heraldic terms). From the eagle's perspective, it holds a bundle of 13 (referring to the
Thirteen Colonies) arrows in its left talon and an
olive branch (with thirteen leaves and thirteen olives) in its right talon, symbolic respectively of war and peace (see
Olive Branch Petition) and a preference for peace. The eagle also has its head turned towards the olive branch, symbolizing again 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
shield the eagle bears on its breast, though sometimes drawn incorrectly, has two main differences from the
American flag; 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 that sometimes used by the
September 11 Commission has fifty mullets on the chief), and unlike the flag the outermost stripes are white, not red, so as not to violate the
heraldic rule of "color on color". It is usually
blazoned
Paly of thirteen argent and gules, a chief azure. This is a technically incorrect blazon under traditional Western heraldic rules, as a shield cannot be paly (vertically striped) of an uneven number; a more proper blazon would be
argent, six pallets gules... (six red stripes on a white field). This fact was recognized at the time of its adoption,[
1] but the incorrect blazon was chosen and is used to preserve 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 laurel leaves
*13 berries on the branch
*13 brick levels of the pyramid
 |
Reverse |
Reverse
An unfinished
pyramid with thirteen layers of bricks appears 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 CÅ"ptis signifies that somebody (presumably Divine Providence) has "nodded at (our) beginnings".
Novus Ordo Seclorum, a quotation 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 symbolism of the obverse is obvious—the shield is reminiscent of the national flag, and the Bald Eagle is a well-known national symbol.
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 a Masonic symbol, nor designed by a Mason. Among the Great Seal committee, only
Benjamin Franklin was a Mason, but his ideas were not adopted by the committee.
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. 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."
Another 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. He 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.
|
Design for the recto of the Great Seal, 1782. |
On
July 4,
1776, the
Continental Congress named a committee to design a great seal for the country. Almost six years and three committees later they still had not agreed on a 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 his integrated design on
June 20,
1782, still in use today, and had it engraved into brass cylinders ("matrices") about 2.25 inches in diameter.
|
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. He and all following secretaries 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.
|
First Die of the Great Seal of the United States, 1782. |
There have been a total of seven reengravings of the seal since the original, which is now on display in the National Archives in
Washington, D.C., USA.
The obverse side of the Great Seal is used to emboss the design on international treaties and other official US Government documents. It is stored in the Exhibit Hall of the
US Department of State inside a locked glass enclosure. An officer from the State Department does the actual sealing of documents after the
US Secretary of State has countersigned the President's signature. It is used approximately 2,000 to 3,000 times a year.
*
Seal of the President of the United States*
Seal of the United States Senate*
The Great Seal*
downloadable PDF booklet from U.S. State Department
