THE

GREAT SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES.

Is one of peculiar inter est, and therefore we fee warranted in giving more details of its design and history than can be allotted to the Seals of the several States. Soon after the declaration of independence, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson were appointed committee to prepare great seal for the infant republic; and they employed a French West Indian, named Du Simitiere, not only to furnish designs, but also to sketch such devices as were suggested by themselves. In one of his de

signs, the artist displayed on a shield the armorial ensigns of the several nations from whence America had been peopled-embracing those of England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, and Holland. On one side was placed Liberty with her cap, and on the other was a rifleman in uniform, with his rifle in one hand and a tomahawk in the otherthe dress and weapons being peculiar to America.

Franklin proposed, for the device, Moses lifting his wand, and dividing the Red Sea, and Fharaoh and his hosts overwhelmed with the waters. For a motto, the words of Cromwell, "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God."

Adams proposed the Choice of Hercules; the hero resting on a club, Virtue pointing to her rugged mountain on one hand, and persuading him to ascend; and Sloth, glancing at her flowery paths of pleasure, wantonly reclining on the ground, displaying the charms, both of her eloquence and person, to seduce him into vice.

Jefferson proposed the Children of Israel in the Wilderness, led by a c.oud by day and a pillar of fire by night; and, on the reverse, Hengist and Horsa, the Sexon chiefs, from whom we claim the honor of being

descended and whose political principles and form of government we have assumed.

Franklin and Adams then requested Jefferson to combine their ideas in a compact description of the proposed great seal, which he did, and that paper, in his handwriting, is now in the office of the Secretary of State at Washington. This design consisted of a shield with six quarterings, parti one, coupi two, in heraldic phrase. The first gold, and an enameled rose, red and white, for England; the second white, with a thistle, in its proper colors, for Scotland; the third green, with a harp of gold, for Ireland; the fourth blue, with a golden lily-flower, for France; the fifth gold, with the imperial black eagle for Germany; and the sixth gold, with the Belgic crowned red lion, for Holland. These denoted the countries from which America had been peopled. He proposed to place the shield within a red border, on which there should be thirteen white escutcheons, linked together by a gold chain, each bearing appropriate initials, in black, of the confederated States. Supporters, the Goddess of Liberty on the right side, in a corslet of armor, in allusion to the then state of war, and holding the spear and cap in her right hand, while her left supported the shield. On the left the Goddess of Justice, leaning on a sword in her right hand, and in her left a balance. The crest, the eye of Providence in a radiant triangle, whose glory should extend over the shield and beyond the figures. Motto: E Pluribus Unum-" Many in one." Around the whole, "SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, MDCCLXXVI.” For the reverse, he proposed the device of Pharoah sitting in an open chariot, a crown on his head and a sword in his hand, passing through the divided waters of the Red Sea in pursuit of the Israelites. Rays from a pillar of fire in a cloud, expressive of the Divine presence and command, beaming on Moses, who stands on the shore, and, extending his hand over the sea, causes it to overwhelm Pharaoh and his followwers. Motto: "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God."

Jefferson's device was highly approved by his coadjutors, and the committee reported on the 10th of August, 1776; but, for some unaccountable reason, their report was ne ṛlected, not having been even placed on record; and the affair was allowed to slumber until the 24th of March, 1779, when Messrs. Lovell, of Massachusetts, Scott, of Virginia, and Houston, of Georgia, were appointed a committee to make another device.

On the 10th of May following they reported in favor of a seal four inches in diameter, one side of which should be composed of a shield with thirteen diagonal stripes, alternate red and white. Supporters, a warrior, holding a sword on one side, and on the other the figure of Peace, bearing an olive branch. The crest, a radiant constellation of thirteen stars. Motto: Bello vel Pace-" For War or Peace," and the legend, "Seal of the United States." On the reverse, the figure of Liberty, seated in a chair, holding the staff and cap. Motto: SemperForever"-aud underneath, MDCCLXXVI. This report was re-committed,and again submitted with some slight modifications (substituting the figure of an Indian with bow and arrows in his right hand for that of a warrior) just a year afterward; but it was not accepted, and the matter rested until April, 1782, when Henry Middleton, Elias Boudinot

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and Edward Rutledge were appointed a third committee to prepare a seal. They reported on the 9th of May following, substantially the same as the committee of 1779 and 1780; but, this not being satisfactory to Congress, on the 13th of June the whole matter was referred to Charles Thomson, its secretary.

He in turn procured several devices, among which was one by Wiliam Barton, of Philadelphia, consisting of an escutcheon, with a blue border, spangled with thirteen stars, and divided in the centre, perpendiculariy, by a gold bar. On each side of this division. within the blue border, thirteen bars or stripes, alternate red and white, like the American flag adopted on the 14th of June, 1777. Over the gold bar an eye surrounded with a glory, and in the gold bar a Doric column resting on the base of the escutcheon, having a displayed eagle on its summit. The crest, a helmet of burnished gold, damasked, grated with six bars, and surmounted by a red cap of dignity, such as dukes wear, with a black lining, and a cock armed with gaffs. Supporters, on one side the Genius of America, with loose Auburn tresses, having on her head a radiant crown of gold, encircled with a sky-blue fillet, spangled with silver stars, and clothed in a long, loose, white garment, bordered with green. From the right shoulder to the left side, a blue scarf with stars, the cinctures being the same as in the border. Around her waist a purple girdle, fringed with gold, and the word VIRTUE embroidered in white. Her interior hand rested on the escutcheon, and the other held the American standard, on the top of which a white dove was perched. The supporter on the other side was a man in complete armor; his sword-belt blue, fringed with gold; his helmet encircled with a wreath of laurel, and crested with one white and two blue plumes; his left hand supporting the escutcheon, and his right holding a lance with a bloody point. Upon an unfurled green banner was a golden harp with silver strings, a brilliant star, and two lily-flowers, with two crossed swords below. The two figures stood upon a scroll, on which was the motto Deo Favente-" With God's Favor"-in allusion to the eye of Providence in the arms. On the crest, in a scroll, was the motto Virtus sola Invicta-" Virtue alone is Invincible."

After vainly striving to perfect a seal which should meet the approval of Congress, Thomson finally received from John Adams, then in London, an exceedingly simple and appropriate device, suggested by Sir John Prestwich, a baronet of the West of England, who was a warm friend of America, and an accomplished antiquarian. It consisted of an escutcheon bearing thirteen perpendicular stripes, white and red, with the chief blue, and spangled with thirteen stars; and, to give it greater consequence, he proposed to place it on the breast of an American eagle, displayed, without supporters, as emblematic of self-reliance. It met with general approbation, in and out of Congress, and was adopted in June, 1782: so it is manifest, although the fact is not extensively known, that we are indebted for our national arms to a titled aristocrat of the country with which we were then at war. Eschewing all heraldic technicalities, it may be thus described in plain English: Thirteen perpendicular pieces, white and red: a blue field; the escutcheon on the breast of the American eagle displayed, proper. holding in his right talon an olive-branch, and in his left a bundle of thirteen arrows, alt

proper, and in his beak a scrc ll, inscribed with the motto E Pluribus Unum. For the crest, over the head of the eagle, which appears above the escutcheon, a golden glory breaking through a cloud, proper, and surrounding thirteen stars, forming a constellation of white stars on a blue field.

Reverse. A pyramid anfinished. In the zenith, an eye in a triangle, surFounded with a glory, proper. Over the eye, the Words Annuit Captis"God has favored the undertaking." On the base

f the pyramid, are the numeral Roman letters MDCCLXXVI.; and undeath the motto, Novus Ordo Seclorum-" A new Series of Ages"-denoting that a new order of things had commenced in the Western hemisphere. Thus, after many fruitless etforts, for nearly six years, a very simple seal

was adopted, and yet remains the arms of the United States.

ARRANGED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER.

NEW-YORK.

ON a white or silver field the Goddess of Virtue, the genius of the commonwealth is represented, dressed like an Amazon resting on a spear with one baud, anc bolding a sword in the other. She is in the act of trampling on Tyranny, repre sented by a man prostrate, a crown fallen from his head, a broken chain in his left hand, and a scourge in his right. On a label above the figure is the word "Vir ginia;" and beneath them is the motto, Sic semper tyrannis--"Thus we Serve ty rants."

A shield, or escutcheon, on which is represented the rising sun, with a range of hills and water in the foreground. Above the shield, for the crest, is a wreath surmounted by a half globe, on which reste a startled eagle, with wings outstretched. For the supporters of the shield, on the right in represented the figure of Justice, with the sword in one hand and the scales in the other; and on the left the Goddess of Liberty, with the wand and cap in her left hand, and the olive branch of peace in her right. Below the shield is the motto, Excelsior-" More elevated - denoting that the course of the State is onward and higher. Around the border of the seal, between two plain lines, is the inscription, in Roman capitals, "The Great Seal of the State

METTLED BY THE DUTCH, 1684.

of New-York."

On the blue ground of an irregularlyformed shield an Indian is represented, dressed with belted hunting-shirt and moo cassins. In his right hand is a goldeu bow. and in his left an arrow with th point downward A silver star on th right denotes one of the United States o. America A wreath forms the crest of the escutcheon, from which extends a right arm, clothed and ruffed, the hand grasping a broad-sword, the pommel and hilt of which are of gold. Around the escutcheon, on a waving band or label, are the words, Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem "By the sword she seeke peace under liberty