1. THE GREAT SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES:
O A , , re-
ported that the new one–dollar bill would be
distinguished by an unfamiliar but appropri-
ate design. The new bill would show, “…the
little known reverse of the Great Seal…”
Where did the Great Seal come from, what
happened to its “little known reverse”, and
how did the complete Great Seal finally ap-
pear on the one dollar bill in ? The short,
simple answer is that Franklin Delano
Roosevelt found a way to put it there. But
that would keep us from the larger story of
where the original symbols came from, their
meanings, and a year old intrigue to keep
the second side—the reverse with its eye and
pyramid—hidden from the public and miss-
ing from our Official Seal.
So, what is The Great Seal?
The Great Seal of the United
States is the principal seal of
our nation used for authen-
ticating the President’s sig-
nature on state documents.
It was first used on Septem-
ber , on a treaty with
the British to exchange pris-
oners. Other early uses in-
cluded Presidential pardons,
patents for land and inven-
tions, and other applications
that are now authenticated
by an agency seal such as the
U.S. Patent Office.
Since its very first use the
Seal, in the form of a die
and press, has been housed
in the Department of State
and under the control of the
Keeper of the Seal. How-
ever, the Official Seal as
conceived by the founders
of our nation has never been
used in its complete form.
To this day, only the front
or obverse with its eagle is
impressed onto official state
documents. The reverse of
the Great Seal only appears
on our one-dollar bill.
The most recent attempt to complete the
Official Seal came on June , when the
U.S.Senate passed .
Introduced by Senator John Warner and co-
sponsored by Senators Barry Goldwater,
Sam Nunn and Claiborne Pell, it quickly ac-
quired over other senators as cosponsors.
commemorated
the Bicentennial of The Great Seal of the
United States. It resolved, “That the week
beginning June , , be proclaimed Great
Seal Bicentennial Week, and that a die be cut
and appliances be made for making an impres-
sion of the reverse of the Great Seal to complete
the Official Seal, to be ready for the bicenten-
nial of its first use, September , . In order
to promote and enhance efforts to inform the
American people of the will of the Founding
Fathers and of the meaning and purpose of our
national Seal…”
In his introduction on May , , Sena-
tor Warner noted that the
Founding Fathers, via the
Continental Congress, had
adopted on June ,
a two-sided design for the
Seal, but that only a die of
the obverse or eagle side was
struck and used. And that in
, “Congress ordered that
dies be cast for both sides of the
Seal for official use. Yet, America
remained with only half of her
vision manifest in the Official
Seal.” He concluded, “By this
resolution the Senate will pro-
claim its intention to finally have the wishes of the
Founding Fathers fulfilled. I know that 200 years
is a long time to complete the mandate of Con-
gress, but let it be done this year. By this action, let
the world know we still believe and adhere to the
principle embodied in the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, the Constitution, and visually embodied in
the Great Seal.”
In , this resolution quickly passed the
Senate. As President of The Great Seal
Foundation, my colleagues and I had initi-
ated the resolution. One of my colleagues,
Barbara Honneger, a White House staffer,
then guided the passed resolution through
nearly all of the necessary officials on its path
to the desk of President Ronald Reagan.
However, at the last check point, the White
House Counsel would not sign off claim-
ing that only joint congressional resolutions
should be put before the President. Thus
once again the completion of America’s Of-
ficial Seal was thwarted.
Of the three instances in , and
that the eye and pyramid side could have
become part of the Official Seal, one stands
out:The plot of directly subverted an act
of Congress passed on July th of that year.
The successful subterfuge set the stage for its
appearance a half century later on the one-
dollar bill.
Although the images on the back of the
one-dollar bill are now so common to us,
their histories and meanings have remained
completely unknown to most Americans.
The bald eagle as our national symbol and “E
Pluribus Unum” as our motto come directly
from these early Congressional commit-
tees. And the Seal of the President and that
of Congress are derived from these earliest
heraldic symbols of America.The Great Seal
.
by Paul Zamarian
Senator John Warner
The 1782 Great Seal of the United States The masthead from Senate Resolution 394 of 1982.
2. was a seminal and significant part of the cre-
ation of the United States, evolving along
with the Constitution itself.
Congress Creates the Seal
B J , , the
Continental Congress appointed three men
to design a seal to commemorate the cre-
ation of the new nation. The Declaration of
Independence had just been adopted and
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and
John Adams were nominated to be the first
seal committee. By the time the Revolution
was over, two additional committees would
be formed.
Each committee selected its own artist.
Pierre Eugene du Simitiere, a well-known
portrait artist, drew the original committee’s
designs. The front contained a shield, the
eye of providence in a radiant triangle, and
the motto, “E Pluribus Unum”; elements that
remain in the final design. It is said that du
Simitiere may have taken “E Pluribus Unum”
from the well-known Gentleman’s Magazine,
the predecessor of today’s Gentlemen’s Quar-
terly (GQ). The first committee eventually
submitted a two-sided design, the reverse
The descriptions of the complete design and meanings
behind the Great Seal as quoted from the JOURNALS OF
CONGRESS for June , .
“T S U S C -
, ,
:
T D A A R
U S C -
—
ARMS—Paleways of thirteen pieces Argent and Gules: a Chief, Azure.
the Escutcheon on the breast of the American bald Eagle displayed, proper,
holding in his dexter talon an Olive branch, and in his sinister a bundle of
thirteen arrows, all proper, & in his beak a scroll, inscribed with this Motto.
“ ”—
FOR THE CREST—Over the head of the Eagle which appears above the
Escutcheon, A Glory, OR, breaking through a cloud, proper, & surrounding
thirteen stars forming a Constellation, Argent, on an Azure field—
REVERSE—A Pyramid unfinished. In the Zenith an Eye in a triangle sur-
rounded with a glory proper. Over the Eye these words “A C”.
On the base of the pyramid the numerical letters & underneath
the following motto, “ ”
R E
The Escutcheon is composed of the chief and pale, the two most honorable
ordinaries. The Pieces, paly, represent the several states all joined in one solid
compact entire, supporting a Chief, which unites the whole and represents
Congress. The Motto alludes to this union. The pales in the arms are kept
closely united by the chief and the Chief depends on that union & the strength
resulting from it for its support, to denote the Confederacy of the United States
of America & the preservation of their union through Congress.
The colours of the pales are those used in the flag of the United States of
America; White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valor, and
Blue, the colour of the Chief signifies vigilance perseverance & justice. The
Olive branch and arrows denote the power of peace & war which is exclusively
vested in Congress. The Constellation denotes a new State taking its place
and rank among other sovereign powers. The Escutcheon born on the breast of
an American Eagle without any other supporters to denote that the United
States of America ought to rely on their own Virtue—
Reverse. The pyramid signifies Strength and Duration: The Eye over it & the
Motto allude to the many signal interpositions of providence in favour of the
American cause. The date underneath is that of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence and the words under it signify the beginning of the New American
Era, which commences from that date—
The motto and the “eye of providence” from
the First Seal Commitee.
First Seal Commitee of Thomas Jefferson,
John Adams & Benjamin Franklin
3. featuring Franklin’s vision of Pharaoh in
pursuit of the Children of Israel and being
engulfed by the Red Sea. This graphic scene
complete with the guiding pillar of fire is en-
circled with the motto, “Rebellion to Tyrants
is Obedience to God.” Even with the influence
of these three men, the full Congress did not
adopt their designs.
A second committee was appointed in
March of with three new members:
James Lovell, John Morin Scott, and Wil-
liam Churchill Houston. Francis Hopkin-
son who also designed the American flag
became their artist. Again their two-sided
design was not fully adopted, although their
motifs of red and white stripes, and a con-
stellation of stars with an olive branch
would survive.
Finally, in May of , the Congress ap-
pointed a third committee. Its members,
John Rutledge, Arthur Middleton and Elias
Boudinot elicited the services of Charles
Barton, the nephew of the famous scientist,
David Rittenhouse. Barton was a find. As a
lawyer with artistic talent and versed in her-
aldry, he made significant contributions. He
drew an unfinished pyramid under the first
committee’s “radiant eye”and introduced an
eagle as part of the front side.
The committee quickly submitted these
new designs, but Congress, still dissatisfied,
turned the designs of all three committees
over to Charles Thomson, the perennial
Secretary of the Continental Congress and
owner of the second signature after John
Hancock’s to grace the Declaration of Inde-
pendence upon its adoption on July , .
In about a week, Thomson, in collaboration
with Barton, synthesized the ideas submit-
ted by the three committees. Together they
created a final design that was approved by
the Continental Congress.On June ,,
the new nation adopted a two-sided design
for its Great Seal.
In the Journals of Congress for June ,
the designs and meanings for both the ob-
verse and reverse are fully described in the
antique language of heraldry (see sidebar).
On September , the new nation’s
Great Seal was used for the first time—on
a treaty to exchange prisoners with the Brit-
ish. However, only the eagle side was used.
It had been fashioned into a die from the
description in the Journals of Congress. Why
the reverse side was not struck is not clear.
The use of two-sided pendant seals was still
common although on the wane. But the full
seal design could have been made into a sin-
gle die with a double image similar to South
Carolina’s Great Seal. Except for a few ren-
ditions in publications, the eye and pyramid
reverse side was never revealed to the public
as an integral part of the symbol of the new
nation. In contrast, the eagle and the shield
appeared everywhere; on furniture, edifices,
bowsprits and numerous graphic images.
The eagle and shield quickly became the sole
symbol of the new American nation.
In its official capacity the die of the seal’s ob-
verse was housed in the Department of State
under its first Secretary,Thomas Jefferson. It
was used on state documents that required
the President’s signature.That use in its lim-
ited, incomplete form continues to this day.
It was not until the approach of the Cen-
tennial of the Seal’s adoption that an effort
took root to complete its official form. John
D. Champlin, Jr., a prominent New York
author and editor was most responsible for
awakening the public to the incompleteness
of the Official Seal. His article in the May,
issue of The Galaxy, charged that the
State Department had neglected the seal’s
reverse by not using it officially. Then in
January of , Assistant Secretary of State,
John Hay, requested an estimate from Theo-
dore F. Dwight, the department’s librarian,
for cutting a die of the reverse.The eagle side
of the seal had gone through a few design re-
visions and the most recent one had drifted
out of compliance with the heraldic descrip-
tion in the Journals of Congress. Infamously
referred by some as the Illegal Seal, it was
worn and needed replacement. The Centen-
nial presented an ideal opportunity to rectify
the errors and complete the Official Seal.
In an outspoken and mildly eccentric
military expert, First Lieutenant Charles
A.L. Totten, joined the effort. Having acci-
dentally discovered that the seal had a reverse
side, he convinced the State Department to
issue a commemorative medal displaying
the front and back side of the seal. For most
Americans, it was their first view of the eye
and pyramid reverse.
On February , , Totten wrote the Sec-
retary of State Frederick T. Frelinghuysen
offering details on new seal designs and ad-
vising that both sides should be struck as dies
and used. He suggested that the integrated
design could be merged into a figure- form
with the obverse at the top and the reverse
on the bottom and impressed on the same
wafer. He said the incomplete seal was tech-
nically illegal and a part could not do for the
whole when the law was clearly set forth in
the Journals of the Continental Congress.
In the fall of , Dwight who was now
Chief of the Bureau of Rolls and Library in
the State Department, began to look into
striking this new seal for official use. He
made contact with James Horton White-
house, Chief Designer of Tiffany & Co. in
New York. In December he wrote to solicit
an estimate and designs for dies and press
1782: Thompson’s suggestion for the Obverse along with Barton’s Reverse design.
James Horton Whitehouse and his Tiffany designs of 1884.
4. and the now familiar one-dollar bill.
The New Dollar Bill
I , H W, then Secretary of
Agriculture, sat while waiting to meet with
Secretary of State Cordell Hull, and dis-
covered Gaillard Hunt’s History of the Great
Seal in Hull’s waiting room. As he browsed
through it the color prints of Whitehouse’s
designs caught his attention, especially the
pyramid and eye of the reverse side. He im-
mediately showed the images to the Presi-
dent, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Both Wal-
lace and FDR were members of the Masonic
Fraternity, Freemasons, and for the first time
were viewing the Seal’s reverse side. Wallace
later described FDR’s reaction in two letters
written in :
“Roosevelt as he looked at the colored reproduc-
tion of the Seal was first struck with the represen-
tation of the ‘All-Seeing Eye”, a Masonic repre-
sentation of the Great Architect of the Universe.
Next he was impressed with the idea that the
foundation for the new order of the ages had been
laid in 1776 but that it would be completed only
under the eye of the Great Architect.”
Roosevelt decided to put it on the back of
a new dollar bill and referred the matter to
Henry Morgenthau, his Treasury Secretary.
The dollar bill at that time was like ours with
George Washington on the front but with
variations of the word and numeral “one”
on the back. When the draft of the new dol-
lar bill came to FDR from the Treasury, the
Whitehouse designs were on the back of
the dollar bill. The obverse with the eagle
before him, Whitmore on December ,
to Dwight adds:
“As to the reverse..It is a thankless task to ar-
range it & as Prof. Norton says, use it as little
as possible.”
On January , , Dwight responds to
Whitmore apologizing for the delay due to
work pressure from his current duties. This
letter not only conveys agreement with the
comments of Norton, Winsor and Whit-
more as to the reverse, it also gives some in-
sight into the pressures on Dwight that in-
fluenced his decision not to have the reverse
die cut. Specifically:
“Unfortunately owing to the delay of Congress
in providing the requisite means for the work,
only a few weeks remain in which the new die
or dies can be executed under the present admin-
istration. For the present purposes we shall not
order the reverse, as Mr. Winsor remarks, it has
been so long kept in the dark, a few months more
of shade will do it no harm.”
However,he goes on with some ambivalence
saying that although the law does call for the
reverse to be cut, it would be inconvenient
to use it for sealing documents and he was
under some time duress. Noting that it was
originally left uncut in , presumably
because the Founders also urgently needed
a die and that the country had simply lost
sight of it since, Dwight decided he could
do the same.
Independently of Dwight, on January ,
, Secretary Frelinghuysen wrote Tiffany
and formally ordered dies of the obverse and
reverse to be cut pursuant to the act passed
on July , . On the following Sunday,
January , Dwight was in New York to
likely meet with Whitehouse, but records
of any meetings are not available. All we
do know is that, on March , , Dwight
wrote Whitehouse, “…in reply to your in-
quiry as to whether you should proceed with
the reverse of the seal, that you need not do
so until you hear further from me.”The Eagle
and the Shield indicates that no further cor-
respondence was found.
Four men, Dwight, Norton, Winsor, and
Whitmore have judged the Founders con-
ception to be an inferior aberration best kept
in the dark. Thus a die of only the obverse
side was struck in and put into official
use despite the rule of Congress mandating
the cutting of a complete seal including the
official reverse. In due to wear, a new
die with the same design was restruck—
would the Founder’s full conception ever
see the light of day? It is this single-sided die
with the Whitehouse design for the eagle
that brings us finally to , the New Deal,
implements for both sides of the seal. It was
Whitehouse’s designs that formed the ref-
erence point for all further correspondence
from -.
The enduring legacy of Charles Totten, be-
yond his striking of the Centennial Medal,
was his successful pressing of Secretary Frel-
inghuysen to have Congress draft a law man-
dating that dies of both the front and back
of the seal and implements for their use be
made. This new law supporting the original
mandate of was passed on July , .
And again the will of Congress would never
be carried out.
The Plot
T - , and the actual plot to sub-
vert the law of July , are described in
detail in the two authorities on The Great
Seal: Gaillard Hunt’s, History of the Great
Seal, published in and The Eagle and the
Shield by Patterson and Dougall, published
in . Both were State Department publi-
cations.
From -, Theodore Dwight consulted
with several experts concerning the new seal
designs, these included: Asa Gray, the fore-
most botanist of the time, concerning the ol-
ive branch; and William S. Appleton on her-
aldry. However it was not until after the
law was passed that he contacted Charles El-
iot Norton of Harvard, a notable editor and
author. Norton was extremely critical of the
entire seal design and even questioned the
judgment of the original Congress. On De-
cember , he wrote Dwight in part:
“It is greatly to be regretted that the device ad-
opted in 1782 is of so elaborate and allegorical a
character. The most skilful treatment of it could
not make it satisfactory as the design for the seal
of a great nation. It is little better than a very
complex totem.”
“As to the reverse, the device adopted by Congress
is practically incapable of effective treatment; it
can hardly, however artistically treated by the
designer, look otherwise than a dull emblem of a
masonic fraternity.”
With the table set with his arrogant critical
sarcasm, Norton quickly confers with Justin
Winsor, the Harvard Librarian and Wil-
liam Henry Whitmore, a heraldic scholar,
both who have previously been mentioned
to Dwight. On December , , Winsor
wrote Dwight that he agreed with Norton
entirely and added:
“The design (reverse) of the original order is both
unintelligible and commonplace. If it can be kept
in the dark as it seems to have been kept, why not
keep it so.”
And with Norton and Winsor’s comments
Franklin D. Roosevelt
5. image was on the left or first in order—the
proper way for the seal to be displayed. Yet,
Roosevelt reversed the sides putting the
pyramid and eye side first, on the left, add-
ing The Great Seal under it.The obverse eagle
side was now on the right with of The United
States under it. He signed the proof in this
form and the Series E One Dollar Bill
was issued by the Mint.
The New York Times on October ,
quoted Treasury Secretary Henry Morgen-
thau describing the new dollar bill as,“…the
handsomest ever…”
For the first time since its adoption in ,
The Great Seal of the United States is seen
as a whole:The obverse with the well-known
eagle and the reverse with the newly revealed
pyramid and eye. However, our Official Seal
as displayed and used by the State Depart-
ment remains half finished, even now.
Conclusion
SOSU
S be completed? I think so. Although
there are practical aspects of redesigning the
die in the Department of State, the comple-
tion of the Founders’ vision is worthy of our
efforts as expressed by John Warner in intro-
ducing Senate Resolution . The eye and
pyramid was not an after thought merely re-
lated to the use of two-sided pendant seals.
Rather, it was an integral part of the whole
design—an allegorical description of the na-
tion’s founding.
A perspective that has stayed with me over
the three decades I have lived with the Seal’s
story, is that the eagle obverse is our na-
tionalistic image: the defiant bird with the
piercing gaze balancing the powers of war
and peace; arrows and the olive branch’s
leaves and berries. Above the eagle’s head,
a constellation of stars representing the
original colonies coalescing denotes a new
state taking its place among sov-
ereign powers—e pluribus unum
(out of the many came one enti-
ty). As a model for the Presiden-
tial and Congressional Seals, the
unfinished Official Seal is the
image of America that is pro-
jected to the world. However, it
presents only half of our found-
ing story.
The pyramid reverse does not
have that nationalistic feel. It
puts forth a vision for all hu-
manity; the Founders knew
that the nation’s creation was a
transforming occurrence in the
history of mankind. A symbol
of their humble recognition
that under the guidance of di-
vine providence the Republic
was birthed in a world of mon-
archies; that the Declaration of
Independence and our nation
were concrete manifestations of
the Age of Reason, incorporat-
ing the highest of human ideals.
The ancient, long-lived pyramid
stands for the enduring quality
of the American experiment that began in
() and heralds a new order
of the ages, Novos Ordo Seclorum. The un-
finished apex leaves room for the continu-
ous work and advancement of the American
people under the guiding eye of divine prov-
idence. Such powerfully moving metaphors
should be reintroduced to America and the
world as reminders of our Founder’s inspira-
tional ideals.
How could the Great Seal be completed? I
have known two of the previous Keepers of
The Great Seal in the State Department,
meeting Bernice Renn in and Jane Mos-
solem in . It was Jane Mossolem who
expressed her concern about Senate Resolu-
tion and it sums up the current position
against completing the Official Seal. She
explained that it would be inconvenient to
make double impressions, one for each side,
on thousands of documents a year. This was
echoed by Carol Bisbee, the Keeper in
in a letter to me.
Perhaps there is another less imposing so-
lution. Charles Totten had suggested a fig-
ure- form in and there are precedents
for a two-sided seal impressed as a combined
image.The oldest in our country isThe Great
Seal of South Carolina with its obverse and
reverse side-by-side. The cost of redesign-
ing the Official Seal with the integration of
both sides into a single die is small and its
use would not impose undue burden on the
Keeper’s office. Just as in , inertia and
resistance to change are timeless roadblocks.
But is not change and renewal what this
country and its creation are all about?
A historical perspective is needed. The plot-
ters against completing the seal are nearly
unknown and relatively insignificant in our
history.We should not allow the shadowy ac-
tionsofDwightandhisthreecollaboratorsto
keep our Official Seal half complete in viola-
tion of the Founders’vision and the statutory
law passed on July ,.The eye in a radiant
triangle came from the original seal commit-
tee of Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson. Three
men amongst our nation’s Founders who all
sacrificed so much and risked even more in
to sign themselves in, “…support of this
The embossing press and the Keeper of
The Seal, Jane Mossolem The Great Seal of South Carolina displaying its
obverse and reverse side-by-side.
The back of the dollar prior to and the early draft of the
Series E dollar with FDR’s notations to invert the obverse
and reverse of the Great Seal on the new dollar’s back.
6. Declaration [of Independence], with a firm
reliance on the Protection of divine Providence,
we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our
Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” Completing
the Official Seal to the original specifica-
tions of the original Congress would be an
appropriate monument to all past and future
great Americans; a metaphorical reminder
to all citizens of good faith that our contin-
ued humble work and sacrifice are the mor-
tar and stone that add stability to humanity’s
forever “unfinished pyramid”.
Now that The Great Seal has past its th
birthday, the time has come to make its for-
mal form whole in the State Department
and for it to be fully impressed on all docu-
ments that require our Great Seal. It is time
for a proper and complete recognition of
the Founder’s revolutionary vision and a re-
newal of our country’s “self evident” yet still
uncommon heritage.
A possible solution for a complete side-by-side striking of both the
Obverse & Reverse of The Great Seal of the United States.
The author, Paul Zamarian, as President of the Great Seal Foundation
was instrumental in the effort to initiate, pass and implement Senate
Resolution in . He is now an attorney living in Santa Rosa,
California.
