The Great Seal of the United States is the seal of the United States of America. The phrase is used both for the impression device itself, which is kept by the United States secretary of state, and more generally for the impression it produces. The obverse of the Great Seal depicts the national coat of arms of the United States while the reverse features a truncated pyramid topped by an Eye of Providence. The year of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, 1776, is noted in Roman numerals at the base of the pyramid. The seal contains three Latin phrases: E Pluribus Unum ("Out of many, one"), Annuit cœptis ("He favors our undertakings"), and Novus ordo seclorum ("A new order of the ages").
Largely designed by Charles Thomson, then secretary of the Continental Congress, and William Barton, and first used in 1782, the seal is used to authenticate certain documents issued by the federal government of the United States. Since 1935, both sides of the Great Seal have appeared on the reverse of the one-dollar bill. The coat of arms is used on official documents—including United States passports—military insignia, embassy placards, and various flags. The seal of the president is directly based on the Great Seal, and its elements are used in numerous government agency and state seals.
Today's official versions from the Department of State are largely unchanged from the 1885 designs. The current rendering of the reverse was made by Teagle & Little of Norfolk, Virginia, in 1972. It is nearly identical to previous versions, which in turn were based on Lossing's 1856 version.The Eagle and the Shield, p. xxxviiThe vector version of the obverse at the top of this article was taken from U.S. government publications, while the vector reverse was made by a Wikipedia contributor and patterned after this official one.
Obverse
The obverse (or front) of the seal depicts the full achievement of the national coat of arms.
Blazon
The 1782 resolution of Congress adopting the arms, still in force, legally blazoned the shield as:
As the designers recognized, this is a technically incorrect blazon under traditional English heraldic rules, since in English practice a vertically striped shield would be described as "paly", not "paleways", and it would not have had an odd number of stripes. A more technically proper blazon would have been argent, six pallets gules ... (six red stripes on a white field), but the phrase used was chosen to preserve the reference to the 13 original states.
The escutcheon (shield) bears resemblance to the United States flag, with two exceptions in particular:
The blue chief contains no stars (although certain derivative arms do, e.g. the chief of the arms of the United States Senate). The outermost stripes are white, not red, to avoid violation of the rule of tincture, as the chief is blue.
The supporter of the shield is a bald eagle with its wings outstretched (or "displayed", in heraldic terms). From the eagle's perspective, it holds a bundle of 13 arrows in its left talon, and an olive branch in its right talon. Although not specified by law, the olive branch is usually depicted with 13 leaves and 13 olives. In its beak, the eagle clutches a scroll with the motto E pluribus unum ("Out of Many, One"). Over its head there appears a glory with 13 mullets (stars) on a blue field.
Stated symbolism The recurring number 13 refers to the 13 original states. The arrows and olive branch together symbolize that the United States has "a strong desire for peace, but will always be ready for war" (see Olive Branch Petition). E Pluribus Unum contains 13 letters.
The eagle has its head turned towards the olive branch, on its right side, to symbolize a preference for peace.
The primary official explanation of the symbolism of the great seal was given by Charles Thomson upon presenting the final design for adoption by Congress. He wrote:
Thomson took the symbolism for the colors from Elements of Heraldry, by Antoine Pyron du Martre, which William Barton had lent him. That book said that argent (white) "signifies Purity, Innocence, Beauty, and Genteelness", gules (red) "denotes martial Prowess, Boldness, and Hardiness", and azure (blue) "signifies Justice, Perseverance, and Vigilance".Pyron du Martre, Antoine (Pen name: Mark Anthony Porny) (1771). The Elements of Heraldry. T. Carnan and F. Newbery, Jr. Glossary entry: ArgentPyron du Martre, Antoine (Pen name: Mark Anthony Porny) (1771). The Elements of Heraldry. T. Carnan and F. Newbery, Jr. Glossary entry: GulesPyron du Martre, Antoine (Pen name: Mark Anthony Porny) (1771). The Elements of Heraldry. T. Carnan and F. Newbery, Jr. Glossary entry: Azure
A brief and official explanation of the symbolism was much later published in the form of a historical sketch, or pamphlet, entitled: The Seal of the United States: How it was Developed and Adopted. It was written by Gaillard Hunt in 1892 under the direction of then Secretary of State James G. Blaine. When the copyright on the pamphlet expired, Hunt expounded upon its information in more detail in a 1909 book entitled The History of the Seal of the United States. This work was largely based on a two-volume work written in 1897 by Charles A. L. Totten titled Our Inheritance in the Great Seal of Manasseh, the United States of America: Its History and Heraldry; and Its Signification unto the 'Great People' thus Sealed. Hunt's 1909 account details: how the seal was chosen; sketches of other suggestions which were made but not chosen, such as Franklin's suggested motto ("Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God"); iterations and changes made to the seal; information on the illegal seal; and the symbology of the seal (such as that provided by Charles Thomson).
Depictions The colors (tinctures) of the coat of arms are either reproduced directly, or represented monochromatically by means of heraldic hatching. The latter applies when the seal is affixed to paper.
Official die designs In the Department of State, the term "Great Seal" refers to a physical mechanism which is used by the department to affix the seal to official government documents. This mechanism includes not only the die (metal engraved with a raised inverse image of the seal), but also the counterdie (also known as a counter-seal), the press, and cabinet in which it is housed. There have been several presses used since the seal was introduced, but none of the mechanisms used from 1782 through 1904 have survived. The seal and its press were saved when Washington, D.C. was burned in 1814, though no one knows who rescued the pieces.The Eagle and the Shield, pp. 164–165
The press in use today was made in 1903 by R. Hoe & Co's chief cabinetmaker Frederick S. Betchley in conjunction with the 1904 die, with the cabinet being made of mahogany. It is marked with the contracted completion date of June 15, 1903, but delays and reworking pushed final delivery into early 1904. From 1945 to 1955, the Great Seal changed quarters almost once a year. In 1955, the seal was put on public display for the first time in a central location in the department's main building.The Eagle and the Shield, p. 322 In 1961 the Seal became the focus of the new Department Exhibit Hall, where it resides today in a glass enclosure. The enclosure remains locked at all times, even during the sealing of a document.
The seal can only be affixed by an officer of the Department of State, under the authority of the secretary of state. To seal a document, first a blank paper wafer is glued onto its front in a space provided for it. The document is then placed between the die and counterdie, with the wafer lined up between them. Holding the document with one hand, the weighted arm of the press is pulled with the other, driving the die down onto the wafer, impressing the seal in relief. When envelopes containing letters need to be sealed, the wafer is imprinted first and then glued to the sealed envelope. It is used approximately 2,000 to 3,000 times a year.
Documents which require the seal include treaty ratifications, international agreements, appointments of ambassadors and civil officers, and communications from the President to heads of foreign governments. The seal was once required on presidential proclamations, and on some now-obsolete documents such as exequaturs and Mediterranean passports. and
The metallic die of the obverse side of the Great Seal is what actually embosses the design onto documents. These dies eventually wear down, requiring replacements to be made. The current die is the seventh engraving of the seal, and the actual design on the dies has evolved over time.
Evolution of the design + Successive die designs Die Impression Created Description 1782 The first die was made of brass, and measured inches (5.2 cm) in diameter while being one half inch (13 mm) thick. It was cut sometime between June and September 1782 (i.e. between the design being accepted and its first use), although the exact date is not known. The identity of the engraver is also not known; it may have been Robert Scot but Thomson may also have found a private engraver on his own.
The first die depicts a relatively crude crested eagle, thin-legged and somewhat awkward. There is no fruit on the olive branch, and the engraver added a border of acanthus leaves. Depicting an eagle with a crest is typical in heraldry, but is at odds with the official blazon of the seal which specifies a bald eagle (which have no crests). The blazon does not specify the arrangement of the stars (which were randomly placed in Thomson's sketch) nor the number of points; the engraver chose six-pointed stars (typical of U.S. heraldry), and arranged them in a larger six-pointed star. No drawing made by the engraver has ever been found, and it is not known if Thomson provided any.
This first die was used until 1841, and is now on display in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
There was no die made of the reverse side of the seal (and in fact, one has never been made). The intended use was for pendant seals, which are discs of wax attached to the document by a cord or ribbon, and thus have two sides. However, the United States did not use pendant seals at the time, and there was no need for a die of the reverse.
In an essay published in Harper's from 1856 Bernard Lossing alluded to a version half the size for the purpose of impressing wax and paper. More recent research has not been able to verify this claim, with no record of this seal being found (although the second seal committee of 1780 had recommended a half-size seal).The Eagle and the Shield, p. 564 See footnote 29. "No evidence has been found to substantiate this statement either, although the report of the second seal committee in 1780 (which was not adopted) recommended a half-size seal." 1825 Starting with the ratification of the Treaty of Ghent, the United States began to use pendant seals on treaties, where the seal is impressed onto a separate wax disc and attached to the document with cords. Although the reverse side of the seal was designed for this purpose, a die was still not made but rather the obverse was impressed on one side only using the regular die. However, this did not conform to the European tradition of using much larger seals for treaties. To address this, Seraphim Masi of Washington D.C., was asked to design a larger seal specifically for treaties. Masi produced a quite different design, showing a much more realistic (and uncrested) eagle, turned somewhat to the side. He also added fruits to the olive branch, changed the shape of the shield, and depicted the crest differently. It was inches (11.9 cm) in diameter.