Congress Adopts the Great Seal of the United States

Context

Following the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the Continental Congress recognized the need for an official seal to authenticate treaties, commissions, and other national documents. Without such an emblem, the fledgling government lacked a formal means to project sovereignty and legitimacy on the world stage. Early efforts drew on classical imagery and European heraldic traditions, reflecting the revolutionary leaders' familiarity with those sources while seeking symbols appropriate to a republic.

Three successive committees were tasked with developing a design. The first, appointed on the same day as the Declaration, included Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. Their proposals incorporated motifs such as the Eye of Providence and a shield with the stripes of the Union. Subsequent committees refined these ideas but failed to produce a version acceptable to Congress. By 1782, the matter remained unresolved amid the ongoing Revolutionary War and the challenges of establishing a unified national identity.

Charles Thomson, the longtime secretary of the Continental Congress, ultimately took the lead in synthesizing the prior work into a cohesive design. He collaborated with heraldic artist William Barton to finalize the details, ensuring the seal balanced elements of strength, peace, and unity drawn from the earlier submissions.

What Happened

On June 20, 1782, Thomson presented his completed design to Congress, which approved it the same day. The obverse featured a bald eagle as the central figure, a native American bird chosen over classical or European symbols. The eagle held an olive branch in its right talon and a bundle of arrows in its left, with a shield of thirteen red and white stripes on its breast. Above the eagle's head, a constellation of thirteen stars appeared within a glory of rays, and a scroll in its beak carried the motto E Pluribus Unum.

The reverse side showed an unfinished pyramid surmounted by the Eye of Providence, with the mottos Annuit Coeptis and Novus Ordo Seclorum. Thomson provided a written explanation of the symbolism, emphasizing the eagle's representation of the United States as a free and independent nation capable of both peace and defense. Congress acted swiftly on the submission without requiring further revisions.

The adoption concluded years of intermittent discussion that had begun immediately after independence. No physical die was cut immediately, but the blazon—the official written description—became the authoritative guide for future renderings.

Aftermath

The Great Seal was first used later in 1782 to authenticate a document related to the peace negotiations ending the Revolutionary War. It served as the official seal of the United States under the Articles of Confederation and continued in that role after the Constitution took effect. The design required only minor technical adjustments in subsequent decades to accommodate changes in engraving techniques.

Congress authorized the creation of an official seal press and appointed a keeper of the seal, initially the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. This established a bureaucratic practice that persisted through the transition to the State Department.

Legacy

The Great Seal remains the official emblem of the United States, appearing on treaties, commissions, passports, and the reverse of the one-dollar bill since 1935. Its central elements—the bald eagle, olive branch, arrows, and E Pluribus Unum—have become foundational to American civic iconography and are widely recognized as symbols of the nation's founding principles.

Historians view the seal's adoption as a key step in the institutionalization of American independence, transforming abstract revolutionary ideals into a tangible national identity. The design has endured without substantive alteration for more than two centuries, underscoring its success in capturing a durable vision of the republic.