Article May 23, 1903 Issue

The Great Seal

EDS.

THE announcement that the Great Seal of the United States is to be recut, and that during the process the government employs a greater force of inspectors to keep an eye on the single workman than in the construction of a five-million-dollar battleship, gives added interest to the following sketch of the history of the seal, and its use, which we have taken from the columns of the Boston Transcript.—EDS.

On the 4th of July, 1776, after the Declaration of Independence had been read in the Continental Congress, Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Jefferson were appointed a committee to prepare a device for a seal of the United States of North America. In the following August that committee submitted a design for the seal, one side having the arms of the United States, with an escutcheon for each of the thirteen independent states on the shield, supported by the Goddess of Liberty on one side and the Goddess of Justice on the other side, with the motto, "E Pluribus Unum." The reverse contained a device of Pharaoh sitting in an open chariot passing through the divided waters of the Red Sea in pursuit of the Israelites. It also contained a representation of a pillar of fire in the clouds, "expressive of the Divine presence and command, beaming on Moses who stands on the shore, and extending his hand over the sea, causes it to overwhelm Pharaoh," and the motto, "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God." Two features of this design were preserved in the seal as finally adopted—the eye of Providence in the triangle which now appears on the reverse, and the motto, "E Pluribus Unum."

The device of the Franklin committee did not meet with a favorable reception. The report was laid on the table and nothing further was done until March 25, 1779, when the matter was referred to a new committee of which James Lovell of Massachusetts was chairman. This committee reported in May, 1780. Their device had the coat of arms on the face and a seated figure of Liberty with the motto "Semper" on the reverse. In this device appeared for the first time the constellation of the thirteen stars and the thirteen alternate red and white stripes, but the latter were here diagonal, whereas they finally appeared as perpendicular. The idea followed naturally the design of the national flag which Congress had adopted June 14, 1777. After debate, the report was recommitted to a new committee of which Mr. Middleton of South Carolina was chairman. Two years later the records show activity in the effort to evolve a suitable device and several designs were considered, but it was not until June 20, 1782, that the seal was finally decided upon, and the model differs only in details of execution from the seal now in use.

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