This, the first device of Barton, was not illustrated, and his second
device, of which he offered a colored drawing, differed from it in that
he transferred the eye to the reverse and the eagle from the summit of
the column to the crest, thereby eliminating the cock. He put at the
summit of the column a phœnix rising from the flames, left out the
American flag from the dexter supporter’s hand, and changed the sinister
supporter from a warrior in armor to one in continental uniform, holding
in his hand a baton instead of a lance. He also left out the harp and
the fleur-de-lis and transferred the motto to the reverse. The
fleur-de-lis was proposed to commemorate the alliance with France, this
being the only report in which the alliance figured. The design is
important, because it establishes the fact that the idea had become
fixed of having in the seal the thirteen stars, the blue field, and
thirteen stripes of red and white or white and red. In this design
appears for the first time the eagle.
Barton’s second design was addressed to “The Hon^{ble}. Elias Boudinot,
Esq^r. & Arthur Lee Es^q. In Congress.”
Device for an Armorial Atchievement & Reverse of a Great Seal, for the
United States of North America: proposed by William Barton, Esq^r. A.
M.—