This report originated from two sources, Thomson and Barton, and the
agency of each is clearly defined. The distinction of producing the arms
of the United States can not justly be accorded wholly to either, but
belongs wholly to both, with the larger share of distinction to the
Secretary, Charles Thomson.
On June 24, four days after the seal had been adopted, Thomson wrote to
Barton:
I enclose you a copy of the device by which you have displayed your
skill in heraldic science, and which meets with general approbation.
The chief change made by Barton in Thomson’s design was in the
substitution for the chevrons of thirteen pales, alternate white and
red, with a blue chief, and this has been often attributed, without
adequate warrant, to an outside source, which deserves to be noticed.
Sir John Prestwich was a distinguished English antiquary and a friend of
the American Revolution. He enjoyed an acquaintance with John Adams when
the latter was on his foreign mission in 1779, and they conversed on the
subject of the seal, in which Adams, of course, took an interest, as he
had been on the first committee to design it. It appears that Sir John
made certain suggestions for a design which were afterwards enlarged
into a claim by others that he had made the design of the arms which was
finally adopted. Sifting from the question the conjecture and inference
surrounding it one fact is important. It is set forth by the historian
Benson J. Lossing in the Field Book of the American Revolution and War
of 1812:[26]
In the manuscript letter before me [he says], written in 1818 by
Thomas Barritt, Esq., an eminent antiquary of Manchester, England,
addressed to his son in this country, is the following statement: “My
friend, Sir John Prestwich, Bart., told me he was the person who
suggested the idea of a coat of arms for the American States to an
embassador [John Adams] from thence, which they have seen fit to put
on their moneys. It is this, he told me—party per pale of thirteen
stripes, white and red, the chief of the escutcheon, blue, signifying
the protection of Heaven over the States.—He says it was soon after
adopted, as the arms of the States, and to give it more prominence was
placed upon the breast of a displayed eagle.”
There is no claim here that Sir John Prestwich suggested the eagle as an
emblem, or the placing of the shield upon the eagle’s breast, but simply
the pales and the chief. The theory is that Adams communicated this
suggestion to Charles Thomson, who engrafted it upon his own and
Barton’s designs. But it must be remembered that two shields were
already on the files of Congress, with alternate red and white, or white
and red, stripes, and Barton’s first design had bars of the same colors.
Prestwich’s suggestion was, therefore, no more than that they be
perpendicular instead of diagonal or parallel, and that the chief be
blue; but in the device submitted by the committee of 1780 the diagonal
stripes were charged upon a _field azure_. Sir John Prestwich, of
course, knew nothing of these designs, and his statement after the seal
was adopted was made in ignorance of the fact that the essentials of his
suggestion were already before Congress.[27] That his suggestion
influenced the final result even in the slight degree possible, seems
improbable. Why did Thomson, with the Prestwich suggestion before him,
make his first shield of chevrons, which Barton, it appears, changed to
pales? Thomson may have told Barton of the Prestwich design, but what is
more natural than that Barton should try of his own initiative the only
new arrangement of the stripes that was left to try? Diagonal stripes,
bars, chevrons, had all figured in designs and had not given
satisfaction. Pales were then drawn and proved acceptable.
V
THE ARMS ADOPTED
On June 20, 1782, the seal was finally decided upon.
On report of the secretary, to whom were referred the several reports
on the device for a great seal, to take order:
The device for an armorial achievement and reverse of the great seal
for the United States in Congress assembled, is as follows:
ARMS. Paleways of thirteen pieces, argent and gules; a chief, azure;
the escutcheon on the breast of the American eagle displayed proper,
holding in his dexter talon an olive branch, and in his sinister a
bundle of thirteen arrows, all proper, and in his beak a scroll,
inscribed with this motto, “_E pluribus Unum_.”
For the CREST. Over the head of the eagle, which appears above the
escutcheon, a glory, or, breaking through a cloud, proper, and
surrounding thirteen stars, forming a constellation, argent, on an
azure field.
REVERSE. A pyramid unfinished. In the zenith, an eye in a triangle,
surrounded with a glory proper. Over the eye these words, “_Annuit
Cœptis_.” On the base of the pyramid the numerical letters MDCCLXXVI.
And underneath the following motto, “_Novus Ordo Seclorum_.”[28]