I
THE FIRST DEVICE
Late in the afternoon of July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress
“_Resolved_, That Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams and Mr. Jefferson be a
committee to prepare a device for a Seal of the United States of
America,”[1] this being the same committee, except for the omission from
it of Robert R. Livingston and Roger Sherman, which had drawn up the
Declaration of Independence. The Declaration had been signed about 2
o’clock in the afternoon, and the members of the Congress assembling
after dinner[2] desired to complete the evidences of the independence of
the United States by formally adopting an official sign of sovereignty
and a national coat of arms. It was intended that the device for the
seal should be the device for the national arms, and the first and each
succeeding committee having the business in charge construed its duty to
be to devise the arms by devising the seal. In making the two identical
the prevailing custom was observed, for seals are deemed proof of the
coats of arms of the states or individuals using them. The great seal of
France at the time the Declaration of Independence was signed contained
as the obverse the arms of France, and upon the silver box containing
the great seal of England when it was attached to a treaty was engraved
the arms of England.[3] The great seal of England was itself, however,
an exception to the general rule, as it did not at that time, nor for
many years later, contain the arms of the Kingdom; but on the obverse
the figure of the King on horseback and on the reverse of the King
seated on the throne.[4]
The committee to design the arms of the new nation had no national
precedent to follow, for the arms of a kingdom are nearly always those
of the sovereign or his family, and the new Republic could accept no
individual’s arms. The several colonies, however, each had a seal, and
these, as they were generally significant and simple, would have been a
fair guide to the exigencies of a national seal. The members of the
committee, however, had an idea that an allegorical picture significant
of the fortunes and destiny of the United States would be more
appropriate; but as none of them could draw they called into
consultation Eugène Pierre Du Simitière, a West Indian Frenchman who
lived in Philadelphia and had a reputation as an artist and author. John
Adams, in a letter to his wife, August 14, 1776, told the story of the
committee’s efforts to make the seal:
[Du Simitière is] a painter by profession, whose designs are very
ingenious, and his drawings well executed. He has been applied to for
his advice. I waited on him yesterday, and saw his sketches. * * * For
the seal he proposes the arms of the several nations from whence
America has been peopled, as English, Scotch, Irish, Dutch, German,
etc., each in a shield. On one side of them, Liberty with her pileus,
on the other, a rifler in his uniform, with his rifle-gun in one hand
and his tomahawk in the other; this dress and these troops with this
kind of armor being peculiar to America, unless the dress was known to
the Romans. * * * Dr. F. proposes a device for a seal: Moses lifting
up his wand and dividing the Red Sea, and Pharaoh in his chariot
overwhelmed with the waters. This motto, “Rebellion to tyrants is
obedience to God.”
Mr. Jefferson proposed the children of Israel in the wilderness, led
by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night; on the other side,
Hengist and Horsa, the Saxon chiefs from whom we claim the honor of
being descended, and whose political principles and form of government
we have assumed. I proposed the choice of Hercules, as engraved by
Gribelin, in some editions of Lord Shaftesbury’s works. The hero
resting on his club. Virtue pointing to her rugged mountain on one
hand, and persuading him to ascend. 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. But
this is too complicated a group for a seal or a medal, and it is not
original.[5]
Adams’s statement is corroborated by the notes preserved by Jefferson
and now among his papers in the Library of Congress. Franklin’s note
reads:
Moses standing on the Shore, and extending his Hand over the Sea,
thereby causing the same to overwhelm Pharoah who is sitting in an
open Chariot, a Crown on his Head and a Sword in his Hand. Rays from a
Pillar of Fire in the Clouds reaching to Moses to express that he acts
by Command of the Deity.
Motto, Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.
Jefferson’s note says:
Pharoah sitting in an open chariot, a crown on his head and a sword in
his hand passing thro’ the divided waters of the Red Sea in pursuit of
the Israelites: rays from a pillar of fire in the cloud, expressive of
the divine presence and command, reaching to Moses who stands on the
shore and, extending his hand over the sea, causes it to over whelm
Pharoah.