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What is a great seal anyway?  

Seals have been around a long time. The first seal ever to be 

called "great" was King John's of England.   For his 

chamber he had a lesser seal known as the "privy seal" 

which was used more for personal business.   So the King's 

seal became known as the "great" seal.   The U.S. seal is 

know as the "Great Seal" even though there is no other 

lesser seal.    

Why do we need a Great Seal?

The revolutionaries desired to have a symbol and 

coat of arms to show that the newly formed nation 

and it's free people had high goals and hopes for 

the future.   This task was more difficult than was 

originally thought.   It took 6 years, three 

committees and 14 men to make the Great Seal 

of the United States a reality in June of 1782. 

Submitted draft included the shield, eye of providence in 

radiant triangle, and motto E Pluribus Unum

In the beginning....

"The challenge facing the committee was to translate intangible principles

and ideals into graphic symbols." (The Great Seal of the United States pg 2.) 

Three men, Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson struggled with many different 

themes. These men asked for help from portrait artist, Pierre Eugene du Simitiere. 

He helped them understand the art of describing coats of arms and he also had 

experience in designing seals. 

Four items on the final seal that were suggested by the first committee were the 

Eye of Providence and the date of independence (MDCCLXXVI), both of which 

appeared on the back side of the seal, and the shield and Latin motto, E Pluribus Unum 

(Out of

many, one), on the front side.

The first committee turned in its design on August 20, 1776, but the

Congress ordered the report “to lie on the table,” meaning lack of approval.

The Second Committee

The second committee also failed to create an 

acceptable seal, despite having Francis 

Hopkinson who designed the american flag and 

the great seal of New Jersey as a consultant. 

Although they might have failed, they 

contributed to the final design 13 red and white 

stripes influenced by the flag adopted in 1777, 

the constellation of 13 six-pointed stars, and the 

olive branch, a symbol of peace.

The Third Committee

This committee didn't do much instead they relied on Willima 

Barton. He was an young artistic lawyer who became a main 

person in the seal's refinement.   Barton’s main addition at this 

stage was the eagle, "not the American bald eagle, but a small 

crested white eagle “displayed” (with its wings spread). He 

combined it with a small flag and a design for the reverse which 

contained a 13-step unfinished pyramid and the first committee’s 

Eye of Providence. He quickly drew up two designs and their 

technical explanations, and the committee turned in its report 5 

days after it was appointed." (The Great Seal of The United 

States pg 3).

"The Congress still was not satisfied. On June 13, 1782, it handed over the collected work and 

recommendations of the three committees to Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress.   He selected the 

best features of all the previous designs, assigning prominence to the eagle. Feeling that the new nation’s 

symbol should be strictly American, however, Thomson replaced Barton’s crested Imperial eagle with the 

native American bald eagle, wings extending downward as though in flight. He placed in the left talon a 

bundle of arrows and in the right, the olive branch. Thomson’s modified crest (a device placed above the 

shield) was a constellation of 13 stars surrounded by clouds." (The Great Seal of The United States pg. 3)

"The shield, borne on the eagle’s breast, was a chevron design with alternating red and white stripes. 

Adopting the motto E Pluribus Unum from the first committee’s report, Thomson included it on a scroll  

clenched in the eagle’s beak. His was the first proposal in which the final design of the obverse can be seen. 

In his design of the seal’s reverse, Thomson retained the pyramid with the Eye of Providence in a triangle at 

the zenith and, as products of his Latin scholarship, introduced 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." (The Great Seal of The United States pg 4)

"He gave his rough sketches and reports to Barton, depending on him to polish the designs.   The Final 

“Device” Barton portrayed the eagle with its wings displayed, but with wing tips upward, and simplified 

Thomson’s chevron arrangement of stripes on the shield. He arranged 13 vertical stripes, alternately white 

and red, below a rectangular blue “chief” (upper part of the shield). And he specified that the arrows in the 

eagle’s left talon should number 13."   (The Great Seal of The United States pg 4)

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