Great Seal in United States

Great Seal Definition

By act of union (article 24) it was provided that there should be one great seal for the United Kingdom, to be used In sealing writs, to summon parliament, foreign treaties, etc., in all public acts which concern the United Kingdom, and all acts which concern England, and that a seal should be kept in Scotland, to be used in all things relating to private rights or grants which had theretofore passed the Great Seal of Scotland. Wharton.

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By act of union (article 24) it was provided that there should be one great seal for the United Kingdom, to be used In sealing writs, to summon parliament, foreign treaties, etc., in all public acts which concern the United Kingdom, and all acts which concern England, and that a seal should be kept in Scotland, to be used in all things relating to private rights or grants which had theretofore passed the Great Seal of Scotland. Wharton.

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This definition of Great Seal Is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This definition needs to be proofread..

Original Design of the Great Seal of the United States (1782)

Just a few hours after the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the first committee to design a seal for the United States was appointed, and its design began. After undergoing numerous changes, on June 20, 1782, the seal was officially adopted by the Continental Congress.

The Great Seal of the United States is the symbol of our sovereignty as a nation. Its obverse is used on official documents to authenticate the signature of the President and it appears on proclamations, warrants, treaties, and commissions of high officials of the government. The Great Seal’s design, used as our national coat of arms, is also used officially as decoration on military uniform buttons, on plaques above the entrances to U.S. embassies an consulates, and in other places. Both the obverse and the less familiar reverse, which is never used as a seal, are imprinted on the one-dollar bill.

The history of the Great Seal begins with the day of our founding as a nation. The Continental Congress appointed a committee to design a seal for the United States on July 4, 1776, just a few hours after they adopted the Declaration of Independence. The committee members-Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams-prepared a very complicated design that was promptly tabled by Congress. However, one prominent feature of their design appeared in the design that was originally adopted-the motto E Pluribus Unum, “Out of Many, One.”

In 1780, a second committee-James Lovell of Massachusetts and John Morin Scott and William Churchill Houston of Virginia-developed a second design, but it was also tabled by Congress. Like the first design, the second had elements that were later incorporated into the final seal, including the olive branch, the constellation of 13 stars, and the shield with red and white stripes on a blue field.

A third committee was appointed in May of 1782. This committee’s design employed the eagle for the first time, in the crest.

Early in 1782, Congress referred the three designs to Secretary of the Continental Congress Charles Thompson. Thompson made a fourth design that was revised by William Barton, a Philadelphia student of heraldry. Thompson submitted a written description of his final version to the Continental Congress that described the design and explained its symbolism. The Continental Congress approved this design on June 20, 1782.

(Information excerpted from The Great Seal of the United States. National Archives and Records Administration: Washington, DC, 1986.)

Original Design of the Great Seal of the United States (1782) is one of the 100 Most U.S. Influential Documents

Source: The People’s Vote, National Archives of the United States.

Great Seal of the United States

Introduction to Great Seal

Great Seal of the United States, official seal of the United States government. It is two-sided, having both an obverse and a reverse. Only the obverse has been cut as a die, but the design of the reverse has been copied and appears, for example, on the U.S. one-dollar bill.

The dominant figure on the obverse of the seal is an American eagle, shown with wings spread. On its breast the eagle bears a shield having 13 narrow vertical stripes, 7 white alternating with 6 red, which are surmounted by a broad horizontal stripe of blue. The eagle holds an olive branch in its right talon, a cluster of 13 arrows in its left, and in its beak a scroll on which appears the Latin motto E pluribus unum (“From many, one”). A cluster of 13 five-pointed stars, surrounded by a glory, appears above the eagle.

A pyramid, truncated near the top, is the central figure of the reverse side. The base of the pyramid is inscribed with the date 1776 in Roman numerals: MDCCLXXVI. At the zenith of the pyramid, within a triangle surrounded by a glory, appears the all-seeing eye of Divine Providence. Above the eye is inscribed the motto Annuit coeptis
(“He has smiled on our undertakings”). Below the pyramid is a scroll bearing the motto Novus ordo seclorum (“New order of the ages”).

The designing of a seal of the U.S. was first commissioned by the Continental Congress immediately after the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. A committee consisting of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson submitted a design that was deemed unacceptable, as were designs submitted by two succeeding committees. In 1782 these designs were turned over to Charles Thomson, secretary to the congress, who prepared a design which, with some alterations, was adopted by the congress on June 20, 1782.

In 1789 the custody of the seal was entrusted to the secretary of state, in accordance with a law that further provided that the impression of the obverse of the seal should be affixed to all civil commissions given to officers of the U.S. appointed by the president. Use of the impression was later expanded, and it now appears on a wide variety of documents, including presidential proclamations, instruments of ratification of treaties, and the commissions of cabinet officers, ambassadors, and other foreign service officers.

The U.S. presidential seal is similar to the Great Seal, but differs from it in the border inscription “The Seal of the President of the United States.” Each U.S. state has a seal of its own.” (1)

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Notes and References

• Information about Great Seal in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia

Guide to Great Seal