The sun., 1908-05-10
SEAL or THE UNITED STATES
PRESENT ONE rs ONLY THE
FOURTH SINCE I5S9.

0def Than the COnsututlOn-uesign
for Reverse Has Never Been Cut.
WASHINGTON. May 9.--In a corner OF one
n the ofices Of the State Department, in
a wooden case which is kept almost con-
stantly locked, IA the Great Seal Of the
United States II is called the Great Seal.
but II ia in fact the only seal Of the United
States as a nation among other nations
Thehstory Of the Great Seal Ia older than
that Of the Constitution itself, II begins
on the very day that the Declaration Of In
dependence was read ard adopted by the
Continental Congress, It was 2 O'Clock
on the afternoon Of July I, l77S. when that
event took place. and the bellman in the
old Philadelphia State House was still
jangling the Liberty Bell as hard a. he
could when the delegates 10 the Congress
passed the following resolution:
Rssolr,d. That DR. Franklin. Mr. J. Adams
and Mr. Jefferson he a committee TO prepare
device for a seal Of the United states Of
America
There really was no United States Of
America then. but the patriots intended
that there should be. and they proposed
TO be ready with the proper appurtenances.
The Constitution was not adopted until
eleven years later, but in the meantime
the seal was decided on and was used by
the Congress which ran the Government
during its incubation,
The vicissitudes undergone by the Great
Seal have been many and interesting In
the hrst place II seems as II design could
L -
body's ideas.
The first committee, named while the peals
oi the Liberty Bell we're still ringing in their
ears. reported about a month later, on
August 10. They had perfectly gorgeous
design Two. in fact; one for the diverse
and one for the reverse Of the seal.
At that time a seal was two sided affair.
II was made Of wax and hung by cords,
which, after passing through the parch-
ment Of a treaty OF other document. were
passed also through the wax. which was
then deeply stamped with the double i'm
preston cf the seal.
This wax was easily marred, 90 It was
the custom 10 enclose the seal hanging
from document in metal case generally
Of gold or silver. Nowadays even our
Government seals are AFFIXED in quite a diff
ierent manner. What is called q wafer Of
special paper. very often pinked around
the edges. is placed over the paper Of the
document itself This adheres TO the Of
fetal paper and the impression Of the seal
Ia made through them both.
The design submitted by Messrs. Frank
lin, Adams and Jefferson was extremely
interesting but seems to-day rather queer,
In the centre was to be the arms Of the
United States" That was all right. The
arms Of the United States, our familiar
shield with the red and white bars and
the blue above, appear in the centre Of the
present seal.
But a. We had no arms In l77t-at least
none Of the heraldio vsrety-the COMMITTEES
had 10 design some for US. This was their
idea Of what would be appropriate: A shield
having six quartsrings, one to contain a
rose which should refer TO England, one a
thistle for Scotland, one harp for ireland,
one an imperial eagle for Germany, one q
BelEic lion for Holland. and one q heur de
I've for France. These we're not intended
a. delicate tributes to those countries. but
a. indicating the origin Of the coloniEts
who had formed the new nation.
This shield was to be supported on one
aide by Goddess Of Liberty, on the other
by Goddess Of Justice. Above was to he
the eye Of Providence in a triangle sur
rounded by a glory; that is to say, rays
shooting out in all directions
The motto e Pluribus Unum' was the
r. y-htoh
m the present seal Around the border was
4 circle Of small shields, thirteen Of them
each bearing the initials Of one Of the thir-
teen original colonies But M. b. re-
'orred TO Massachusetts, Bay Colony and
~. c." TO Delaware Colony.
On the reverse Of this original design
there was quite an elaborate picture repre-
senting Pharaoh in his chariot, with crown
m his head and a sword in his hand, going
through the billows Of the Red Sea. The
linows, however, we're about to overwhelm
him in obedience TO a gesture from Moses,
st7nding on the shore under a pillar (called
-nilIoW by the committee) Of fire in large
cloud. The motto for this side was Re
helion 10 Tyrants Is Obedience TO God.
The report submitting this elaborate
and stirring design was nevertheless laid
on the table by the Congress. and nothing
further was done until March 25. 177S, when
another committee was appointed. The
members Of this committee did not report
for over a year. and when they did hand
in their design it certainly was nothing
to he proud OF.
They presented two rude drawings. at
which we can smile now. Their design
was to be executed twice. once in q seal
four inches in diameter and once in another
Of half that size, the former 10 be the
great seal" and the latter the less seal OF
the Government.
still there was no move to carry out the
IDEAS submitted After a while q third
committee was appointed. and then various
private individuals became interested, and
little by little all these different ideas crys-
tallized into rather definite form The
shield, with its red and white bsrs and blue
chief, az the upper transverse section is
called. did not appear until after the adop-
zion Of the flag. One by one the eagle,
the thirteen stars, the arrows and the olive
branch appeared in one form or another.
II was really Charles Tomson, Secretary
~ Congress, who made the design which
was the model Of the present seal His
sketch was given TO William Barton TO be.
a. we would say, licked into shape. Bar
Ton knew q lot about heraldry, and he re-
fined the details Of Tomson's idea, but with