The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1916-05-24
OUR NAT Tl0NAL. BIRD
The Eagle Was Selected In Spite
of FrankIin's Protests.
HE FOUGHT FOR THE TURKEY.
In His Judgment the Barnyard Die.
nitary Was the Better American and
More Truly Typified the Young Ma

Few probably have ever given it a
thought as to why we adopted the
eagle as our national bird and not
many are aware that our forcfnthrrS
gave considerable thought to the sub
ject. The eagle is in no way signili
cant of America and is not purely
American bird. When the subject was
mootcd ut the beginning Of our exist.
cnce as nation there was considerable
preference for the turkey rs tie ma
tional bird, and if benjamin Franklin
who was called upon to discuss an,, de-
eide many ticklish questions, had had
his way our bald eagle would never
nave arisen above the status of Il hawk
roDDcr, while the barnyard dignilury
would have aired his vanity on every.
thing from the national seal down TO u
quarter
Even with all our republican ideas,
when this nation was born, we still
possessed touch Of heraldry. and the
fathers regarded the selection of Drop
er hcraldic arms rs most essential
feature OF the conception OF a nation.
In the earliest days the eagle was MOI
considered, ana at last when Franklin
heard that it had bccn chosen he was
sorcly displcaSrd
John Hancock, immediately after tho
Declaration Of Independence, turned
his attention to the creation OF a ma.
tional flag and seal. He was an ardent
antiquarian and had made an exhaust.
i've study of hcrallry. SO he WAS care.
,1ul to select such OF his friends as he
knew were compctcnt to design ana Sc.
lcct the proper symbols. They were
John Adams, Thomas jefferson and
Benjamin Franklin.
When llancocl'S distinguished com
mittcc presented its first set Of sugxcS.
tions the congressional body was not
satisfied with any Of the devices,
though they had developed them H.
numerous concavcs ana with much
laDorious and conscientious study. JEFF.
ferson had worked out a shield divided
into six sections, each containing some.
thing symbolical OF one Of the neoplcs
that entered into the making Of Amer
iea.
There was tho English rose the
French tleur de lis, the Scotch thistle.
the Irish harp. the German eagle and
the Dutch lion. Virtue and Justice sup
ported the shield; above was the eye of
Providence and below the motto, 'E
Pluribus Unum"
John Adams had the government rep
resented as n powerful, hcrculcan fig
ure. with giant club and standing be-
tween Virtue and Vice.
Franklin adopted the story Of Pha.
raoh pursuing the Hebrews into the
Red sea. with the pillar Of fire before
the latter.
None Of these was pleasing, so the
committee was dismissed, and in the
ensuing years five distinct groups of
men submitted over forty suggestions
before the eagle, with his olive branch
In one claw and his arrows in the
other, finally satisfied congress, much
to Franklin'S dissatisfaction.
2 In June OF the year 1882 congress
finally permitted itself to aCQuicScc to
the eagle design, and by that time the
only thing that was left Of the Frank
lin idea was the II pmribus unum''
that he had suggested to jefferson in
I l77G.
= Franklin. with his ideas Of the fit
mess Of things. could not approve Of n
bird which he knew from his olscrva
t1OnS to be Il rascal among the dcnZpns
OF the upper air. He affirmed That tho
eagle was Il lazy bird ana Il great big
bully, neither one Of which he nclicvcd
ttypifcd the Young nation. He said
that the eagle would not 80 out in
nrf.I, f,f