The Great Seal of the United States is the seal of the United States of America. The phrase is used both for the impression device itself, which is kept by the United States secretary of state, and more generally for the impression it produces. The obverse of the Great Seal depicts the national coat of arms of the United States while the reverse features a truncated pyramid topped by an Eye of Providence. The year of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, 1776, is noted in Roman numerals at the base of the pyramid. The seal contains three Latin phrases: E Pluribus Unum ("Out of many, one"), Annuit cœptis ("He has favored our undertakings"), and Novus ordo seclorum ("A new order of the ages").
Largely designed by Charles Thomson, then secretary of the Continental Congress, and William Barton, and first used in 1782, the seal is used to authenticate certain documents issued by the federal government of the United States. Since 1935, both sides of the Great Seal have appeared on the reverse of the one-dollar bill. The coat of arms is used on official documents—including United States passports—military insignia, embassy placards, and various flags. The seal of the president is directly based on the Great Seal, and its elements are used in numerous government agency and state seals.
Today's official versions from the Department of State are largely unchanged from the 1885 designs. The current rendering of the reverse was made by Teagle & Little of Norfolk, Virginia, in 1972. It is nearly identical to previous versions, which in turn were based on Lossing's 1856 version.
Obverse
The obverse (or front) of the seal depicts the full achievement of the national coat of arms.
thumb|A different version of the greater coat of arms found on the seal of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and the flag of the Secretary of State.
thumb|[[United States passport]]
Blazon
thumb|The arms as held by [[Columbia (personification)|Columbia in the war scene of the United States Capitol's 1865 Apotheosis of Washington by Constantino Brumidi]]
thumb|A hatched rendering of the coat of arms being used at the [[United States Department of State|Department of State headquarters at Harry S Truman Building.]]
The 1782 resolution of Congress adopting the arms, still in force, legally blazoned the shield as:
As the designers recognized, this is a technically incorrect blazon under traditional English heraldic rules, since in English practice a vertically striped shield would be described as "paly", not "paleways", and it would not have had an odd number of stripes. A more technically proper blazon would have been argent, six pallets gules ... (six red stripes on a white field), but the phrase used was chosen to preserve the reference to the 13 original states.
The escutcheon (shield) bears resemblance to the United States flag, with two exceptions in particular:
- The blue chief contains no stars (although certain derivative arms do, e.g. the chief of the arms of the United States Senate).
- The outermost stripes are white, not red, to avoid violation of the rule of tincture, as the chief is blue.
The supporter of the shield is a bald eagle with its wings outstretched (or "displayed", in heraldic terms). From the eagle's perspective, it holds a bundle of 13 arrows in its left talon, and an olive branch in its right talon. Although not specified by law, the olive branch is usually depicted with 13 leaves and 13 olives. In its beak, the eagle clutches a scroll with the motto E pluribus unum ("Out of Many, One"). Over its head there appears a glory with 13 mullets (stars) on a blue field.
Stated symbolism
The recurring number 13 refers to the 13 original states. The arrows and olive branch together symbolize that the United States has "a strong desire for peace, but will always be ready for war" (see Olive Branch Petition). E Pluribus Unum contains 13 letters.
The eagle has its head turned towards the olive branch, on its right side, to symbolize a preference for peace.
The primary official explanation of the symbolism of the great seal was given by Charles Thomson upon presenting the final design for adoption by Congress. He wrote:
Thomson took the symbolism for the colors from Elements of Heraldry, by Antoine Pyron du Martre, which William Barton had lent him. That book said that argent (white) "signifies Purity, Innocence, Beauty, and Genteelness", gules (red) "denotes martial Prowess, Boldness, and Hardiness", and azure (blue) "signifies Justice, Perseverance, and Vigilance".
A brief and official explanation of the symbolism was much later published in the form of a historical sketch, or pamphlet, entitled: The Seal of the United States: How it was Developed and Adopted. It was written by Gaillard Hunt in 1892 under the direction of then Secretary of State James G. Blaine. When the copyright on the pamphlet expired, Hunt expounded upon its information in more detail in a 1909 book entitled The History of the Seal of the United States.
<gallery>
File:GreatSealPress.jpg|The press and cabinet, made in 1903
File:Great Seal press 1955.jpg|Clydia Mae Richardson, who led the effort to put the seal on display, and John Foster Dulles imprint a document during the 1955 ceremony
</gallery>
The press in use today was made in 1903 by R. Hoe & Co's chief cabinetmaker Frederick S. Betchley in conjunction with the 1904 die, with the cabinet being made of mahogany. It is marked with the contracted completion date of June 15, 1903, but delays and reworking pushed final delivery into early 1904. From 1945 to 1955, the Great Seal changed quarters almost once a year. In 1955, the seal was put on public display for the first time in a central location in the department's main building. In 1961 the Seal became the focus of the new Department Exhibit Hall, where it resides today in a glass enclosure. The enclosure remains locked at all times, even during the sealing of a document.
The seal can only be affixed by an officer of the Department of State, under the authority of the secretary of state. To seal a document, first a blank paper wafer is glued onto its front in a space provided for it. The document is then placed between the die and counterdie, with the wafer lined up between them. Holding the document with one hand, the weighted arm of the press is pulled with the other, driving the die down onto the wafer, impressing the seal in relief. When envelopes containing letters need to be sealed, the wafer is imprinted first and then glued to the sealed envelope. It is used approximately 2,000 to 3,000 times a year.
<gallery>
File:GreatSealWafer.jpg|A seal wafer
File:GreatSealCounterdie.jpg|The wafer is positioned over the counterdie.
File:GreatSealPressImprinting.jpg|The seal is pressed down on the wafer.
File:GreatSealWaferImprinted.jpg|The imprinted seal
</gallery>
The metallic die of the obverse side of the Great Seal is what actually embosses the design onto documents. These dies eventually wear down, requiring replacements to be made. The current die is the seventh engraving of the seal, and the actual design on the dies has evolved over time.
Evolution of the design
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Successive die designs
! Die !! Impression !! Created !! Description
|-
| 200px|1782 die
| 200px|Drawing of die design<br/>200px|Coloring of die design
| 1782
| The first die was made of brass, and measured inches (5.2 cm) in diameter while being one half inch (13 mm) thick. The identity of the engraver is also not known; it may have been Robert Scot but Thomson may also have found a private engraver on his own. No drawing made by the engraver has ever been found, and it is not known if Thomson provided any. More recent research has not been able to verify this claim, with no record of this seal being found (although the second seal committee of 1780 had recommended a half-size seal).
|-
| 200px
| 200px
| 1825
| Starting with the ratification of the Treaty of Ghent, the United States began to use pendant seals on treaties, where the seal is impressed onto a separate wax disc and attached to the document with cords. Although the reverse side of the seal was designed for this purpose, a die was still not made but rather the obverse was impressed on one side only using the regular die. However, this did not conform to the European tradition of using much larger seals for treaties. To address this, Seraphim Masi of Washington D.C., was asked to design a larger seal specifically for treaties.
|-
| 200px
| 200px
| 1841
| Over time, the original seal became worn and needed to be replaced. John Peter Van Ness Throop of Washington D.C. engraved a new die in 1841, which is also sometimes known as the "illegal seal" because only six arrows are shown rather than the required thirteen. Throop also chose to use five-pointed stars, though kept the six-pointed star arrangement, a change which has continued in all subsequent dies. Other changes include a more vigorous and uncrested eagle, the removal of the acanthus leaves, a general crowding of the design upward, a different shape to the shield, and fruit on the olive branch (four olives).
The die was first used on January 26, 1904, and was used for 26 years. All dies made since have followed exactly the same design, and in 1986 the Bureau of Engraving and Printing made a master die from which all future dies will be made.
|}
Other
Reverse
The 1782 resolution adopting the seal blazons the image on the reverse as "A pyramid unfinished. In the zenith an eye in a triangle, surrounded by a glory, proper." The pyramid is conventionally shown as consisting of 13 courses to refer to the thirteen original states. The adopting resolution provides that it is inscribed on its base with the date <small>MDCCLXXVI</small> (1776, the year of the United States Declaration of Independence) in Roman numerals. Where the top of the pyramid should be, the Eye of Providence watches over it. Two mottos appear: Annuit cœptis signifies that Providence has "approved of (our) undertakings." Novus ordo seclorum, freely taken from Virgil, is Latin for "a new order of the ages." The reverse has never been cut (as a seal) but appears, for example, on the back of the one-dollar bill.
The primary official explanation of the symbolism of the great seal was given by Charles Thomson upon presenting the final design for adoption by Congress. About the elements on the seal's reverse, he wrote: