The Ely miner., 1930-02-21
Second Great Seal Of The
Unlted States

Ii is worthy OF note that one OF them,
the eagle, is of English origin, in that
it was suggested to John Adams by
Sir John Prestwich, an eminent Brit
ish antiquary. The choice of this
bird, which came to be popularly re-
garded as the national emblem, was
very distasteful to another member Of
the national great seal committee, Ben
jamin Franklin. In q letter to his
daughter, Mrs. Sarah Bache, written
on January 26, 1884, while Franklin
was in France, he said:
For my own part, / wish the bald
eagle had not been chosen as the rep
resentative Of the country; he Is a
bird of bad moral character; he does
not get his living honestly; you may
have seen him perched on some dead
tree where, too lazy to fish for him.
self, he watches the labor Of the fish
ing hawk; and when that diligent bird
has at length taken a fish and is bear
ing it to his nest for the support of
his mate and young ones, the bald
eagle pursues him and takes it from
him. With all this injustice he is
never in good case, but like those
among men who live by sharping and
robbing, he is generally poor and
often very lousy. Besides, he is a
rank coward"
The eagle as a symbol Of racial and
national power dates back to the time
Of the Etruscans, the race that pre-
ceded the Romans. Rome, after the
days of Marius, also adopted the eagle
as it standard of legions. It was rep
resented with outspread wings. Later
the Byzantine emperors adopted the
double-headed eagle. which symbol
lied their claim to the eastern and
western empires.
In the Fourteenth century the Ger
man emperors adopted the eagle as
their national emblem. Other Euro
pean countries followed Germany's
lead. Prussia's emblem was distin-
guished by the black eagle; Poland's
by a white eagle. Napoleon made
the eagle represent imperial France.
The emblem was dropped by the
Bourbon rulers, but was restored by
Louis Napoleon on January /. 1852.
Ask the average American If the
motto I'm God We Trust" appears
upon the great seal of the United
States and the chances are that he
will say "Why, certainly it does" It
doesn't, Of course, but it does occur
on some of our coins. That is prob
ably the reason why many Of US
would, without thinking, say that it
Is also on the great seal. That motto
has had an interesting history.
The first suggestion for the recog.
milton of the Deity on the coins Of the
United States was made by NJ. r.
Watkinson Of Ridleyville, Pa, who
signed himself Minister Of the Cos
pel," In a letter dated November 13,
1861. He wrote to Secretary Of the
Treasury Salmon P. Chase suggesting
the words God, Liberty, Law" be in
scribed on our coins. Whether Secre-
tary Chase was moved by this letter
or not, it is impossible to say, but
1t Is a fact that a week later Mr..
Chase sent letter to the director Of
the mint at Philadelphia, in which he
said: "No nation can be strong ex-
cept In the strength of God, or safe
except in His Defense. The trust of
our people In God should be declared
on our national coins. You will cause
q device to be prepared without un-
necessary delay, with a motto ex-
pressing In the fewest and tersest
words possible this national recogni-
tion."
An act passed on April %, 1864,
changing the composition of the one
cent piece and authorizing the coin
age Of the two-cent piece, gave au-
thority to the director Of the mint,
with the approval Of the secretary of
the treasury, to FIX the devices Of the
two-cent piece. "In God We Trust"
first appeared on the two-cent bronze
piece. On March 8. 1866, an act was
passed making 1t lawful for this
motto to appear on such coins as will
admit the inscription. Under this act
the motto was placed on the $50. $40
and S. gold pieces, and In the lattsI
part Of 1865 on the 80 and 25-cei,
silver pieces.