ADAMS, JOHN, on first committee, 7;
describes device, 8;
design of, 9, 10;
connection with Prestwich, 38.
ALDEN, ROGER, keeper of the seal, 45.
ARMS OF ENGLAND, changes in, 50.
BAILEY, BANKS & BIDDLE, cut fourth seal, 64.
BARTON, THOMAS, father of William Barton, 23.
BARTON, WILLIAM, called into consultation on design, 23;
first design, 24;
second design, 28;
claims paternity of arms, 32;
improves Thomson’s design, 35;
credit due to, 37.
BOUDINOT, ELIAS, on seal committee, 23.
BRADSHAW, JOHN, supposed epitaph on, 14, 15, 16.
CHAMPLIN, JOHN D., Jr., opinion of, on seal, 48, 54, 59.
CHICAGO EXPOSITION, illustrations of seal at, 61.
CINCINNATI, ORDER OF, eagle on badge of, 65.
COAT OF ARMS OF THE UNITED STATES. _See_ Seal of the United States.
DWIGHT, THEODORE F., Chief, Bureau of Rolls and Library, superintends
new seal, 54;
opinion on designs, 56.
DEANE, SILAS, complains of want of seal, 18.
E PLURIBUS UNUM, motto, first suggested, 12;
by whom, 13;
origin of, 14;
adopted, 41.
EAGLE, first suggestion of, 24, 28;
Thomson’s treatment of, 33, 34;
adopted as emblem, 41;
Franklin’s opinion of, 65.
ELLERY, WILLIAM, recommends that seal be considered, 18.
FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN, on first committee, 7;
design of, 9, 10;
suggests motto, 14, 16;
criticises eagle, 65.
FRELINGHUYSEN, THEODORE F., Secretary of State, seal cut by order of,
51;
writes about seal, 53.
FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES, adopted, 18.
GREAT SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES. _See_ Seal of the United States.
GRIBELIN, engraving by, 9, 10.
HAY, JOHN, Secretary of State, fourth seal cut by direction of, 63.
HOLLIS, THOMAS, gives motto, Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God,
14.
HOUSTON, WILLIAM CHURCHILL, on seal committee, 19;
writes report, 21.
JEFFERSON, THOMAS, on first committee, 7;
design of, 9, 10;
connection with motto, 13;
suggestion of, 13, 14;
adopts motto, 14.
LEE, ARTHUR, acts with seal committee, 24.
LEWIS, SAMUEL, jeweler, keeps seal for treaties, 52.
LOVELL COMMITTEE, appointed, 18;
reports, 19;
report recommitted, 23.
LOVELL, JAMES, on seal committee, 19.
MARSHALL, JOHN, Chief Justice, opinion of, on use of seal, 66.
MATHÆIS, PAULO DE, picture by, 10.
MIDDLETON, ARTHUR, on seal committee, 23.
NORTON, CHARLES ELIOT, opinion of, on seal, 54, 56.
PRESTWICH, SIR JOHN, connection of, with seal, 38.
REBELLION TO TYRANTS IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD, motto proposed, 9, 10;
origin of, 14, 15, 16.
RUTLEDGE, EDWARD, on seal committee, 23.
SCOTT, JOHN MORIN, on seal committee, 19.
SEAL, GREAT, of England, 8.
SEAL, GREAT, of France, 7, 8.
SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES, first committee to design, 7;
first designs for, 8;
motto for, 13;
need of, 18;
second committee for, 19;
Barton’s designs for, 24, 28, 35;
Thomson’s designs for, 34, 37;
Sir John Prestwich’s connection with, 38;
adopted, 41;
cutting of, 43;
proposed less seal, 44;
correct name for, 46;
second seal, 48;
correction of, 49;
treaty seal, 52;
reverse of, 53, 56, 61;
seal of 1884, 53;
the fourth seal, 63;
device criticised, 65;
uses of, 66.
SECRETARY OF STATE, keeper of the seal, 45.
SHAFTESBURY, EARL OF, engraving in Treatise, 10.
SIMITIÈRE, EUGÈNE PIERRE DU, consulted by first committee, 8;
design of, 9, 11, 12, 17.
SNOWDEN, A. LOUDEN, Director of the Mint, seal medal struck by, 50.
STABLER, EDWARD, cuts second seal, 48.
THOMSON, CHARLES, consults Barton, 31;
ordered to prepare design, 33;
submits design, 34;
design improved, 35;
credit due to, 37;
has charge of seal, 44.
TIFFANY & CO., submit designs, 57.
TOTTEN, C. A. L., writes about seal, 50.
WEBSTER, DANIEL, Secretary of State, seal cut under, 49.
WHITEHOUSE, JAMES HORTON, consulted about seal, 54;
submits designs, 56;
argument for, 59.
WHITE, ALEXANDER, proposes less seal, 44.
WHITMORE, WILLIAM H., consulted relative to seal, 54;
opinion on design, 55;
submits designs, 56.
WINSOR, JUSTIN, consulted concerning seal, 54;
gives opinion, 55.
-----
Footnote 1:
Journals of Congress (W. C. Ford, editor), 1906, V, 517.
Footnote 2:
Benson J. Lossing, in Harper’s Magazine, 1856, vol. 13, p. 178 _et
seq._
Footnote 3:
It so appears attached to the exchange copy of the treaty of peace
with the United States.
Footnote 4:
The Great Seals of England, by Alfred Benjamin and Allen Wyon, London,
1888. Review in The Spectator, 61, 173.
Footnote 5:
Familiar Letters of John Adams and his Wife, 210.
Footnote 6:
Journals of the Continental Congress (W. C. Ford, editor), 1906, V,
690 _n._
Footnote 7:
Our Great Seal, by C. A. L. Totten, 1, 25, gives a reproduction of the
frontispiece.
Footnote 8:
Reports of Committees relating to Congress, vol. 23, Continental
Congress MSS. All the committee reports bearing on the seal are in
this volume.
Footnote 9:
See note at the end for a glossary of heraldic terms used.
Footnote 10:
Delaware counties.
Footnote 11:
Journals of Congress (W. C. Ford, editor), 1906, V, 689.
Footnote 12:
See, however, Historic Side-lights, by Howard Payson Arnold, p. 284.
Footnote 13:
Writings of Jefferson (P. L. Ford), edition of 1892, I, p. 420.
Footnote 14:
The first use of the motto is traced in Preble’s History of the
American Flag, p. 694.
Footnote 15:
Memoirs of Thomas Hollis, Esq., F. R. and A. S. S.; London: MDCCLXXX;
vol. 2, p. 789.
Footnote 16:
Randall’s Life of Jefferson, 3, 585.
This would seem to be conclusive, but since the writer prepared his
brochure on the great seal in 1892 several people whose opinions are
entitled to consideration have expressed a doubt whether the
inscription does not, or at any rate did not, exist. Bradshaw died
during the closing years of the Commonwealth and was buried in
Westminster Abbey. Upon the Restoration his body was disinterred and
hanged, when several other regicides were executed, after which the
trunk was thrown into a hole at the foot of the gallows and the head
publicly displayed, as the custom was in those times. Some members of
the court of which he was president are said to have gone to Jamaica,
and it was declared by some that Bradshaw spread the report of his
death and retired secretly to that island. There is even a surviving
rumor that he and his colleagues were in this country, and a
well-known landmark near New Haven is the “Regicides’ Cave.” In all of
this we see merely an example of one of those myths which so often
surround the death of one whose life was peculiarly conspicuous. In
Bradshaw’s case his double burial in England would still not render
impossible a third burial in Jamaica, and even if he was not buried
there an inscription upon a cannon in his commemoration might possibly
have once existed. But the whole story was investigated in the
beginning of the last century by Bryan Edwards, the historian of the
West Indies, whose work is an authority. In the fifth edition (London,
1819) of his History of the West Indies (vol. 1, p. 213) he says:
“Some of these men who sat as judges at the trial of Charles I are
said to have become peaceable settlers here, and to have remained
after the restoration. * * * It is reported also, that the remains of
President Bradshaw were interred in Jamaica; and I observe in a
splendid book, entitled ‘Memoirs of Thomas Hollis,’ an epitaph which
is said to have been inscribed on the president’s grave; but it is to
my own knowledge a modern production.”
It may be added that the author made inquiry of Louis A. Dent, esq.,
lately Register of Wills of the District of Columbia, when he was
United States consul at Kingston, concerning traditions of this
epitaph, and he declared he knew of none. As his knowledge of Jamaica
was thorough such traditions would hardly have escaped him if
existent.
That anyone should seize upon the rumors surrounding Bradshaw’s death
and make them the basis of a fictitious epitaph is a cause of wonder,
until we remember that the author was Benjamin Franklin, whose unique
imagination was amused by constructing epitaphs and kindred
compositions. His object in this case may easily have been the very
effect of inflaming public opinion which Hollis noticed had resulted.
The statement that the epitaph was on a cannon at Martha Bay was
presumably attached to the copies Hollis saw and accepted by him in
good faith.
Footnote 17: