E PLURIBUS UNUM (out of many, one):
- Was there in the proposal of the first committee, which consisted of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, as galvanized by the consultant Pierre Eugene Du Simitière; which positioned it directly beneath a single shield bearing, in its center, a rose for England, a thistle for Scotland, a harp for Ireland, a flower de luce for France, an eagle for Germany, and a lion for Holland ("(These being the Six principal nations of Europe from whom the Americans have originated.)"), and, around its edges chain-linked eschutcheons containing abbreviations "'for each of the thirteen Independent States of America'" (text of Du Simitière's own blazon, as quoted on pp. 19-20 of Patterson & Dougall); and which submitted its design on 20 August 1776. Though "when first suggested by Du Simitière as a motto for the Great Seal, it may have alluded not only to the union of the Colonies but also to the diverse origins of the people of the New Republic", it seems worth noting that the reference to the "many" countries of origin was eventually dropped, and that only the "thirteens" of the ultimate obverse (the stars and the stripes, and the thirteen-leafed olive branch (representing peace) and thirteen arrows (representing war) clutched by the bald—i.e. distinctively American—eagle) were in the end retained. Cf. the explanation appended to the first blazon of William Barton of the third committee in 1782, as reproduced on pp. 61-62 of Patterson & Dougall.
- Was referred to the thirteen states explicitly in Barton's third blazon of 1782: "'the latter represents the several States; all joined in one solid, compact Empire, supporting a Chief, which unites the whole & represents Congress— The Motto alludes to this Union'" (Patterson & Dougall, 80).
- Was approved by Congress on 20 June 1782 in the form of Thomson's 19 June 1782 Blazon with "Remarks and explanation". The latter read, in part, "'The Pieces, paly, represent the several states all joined in one solid compact entire, supporting a Chief, which unites the whole & represents Congress. The Motto alludes to this union'" (Patterson & Dougall, 84). As for "the question, Did Congress adopt just the Great Seal design, or the 'Remarks and Explanation' as well?", "The better view seems to be that taken by the editor of the Library of Congress edition of the Journals, namely, that Congress had adopted the whole report as submitted to it, and not the blazon alone. In any case, the 'Remarks and Explanation' have an official character and status, in that they came directly from the principal creators of the seal design and are thus primary evidence of what Barton and Thomson intended the device to signify, and what Congress knew to be the intent of the designers when the device was adopted" (Patterson & Dougall, 85-86).
ANNUIT CŒPTIS (he (God) or it (the Eye of Providence) has favored/favors our undertakings):
- Was preceded by the motto "'Deo favente'" (God favoring), "''which alludes to the Eye in the Arms, meant for the Eye of Providence'" (first and second blazons of William Barton of the third committee, as reproduced on pp. 60 and 65-68 of Patterson & Dougall).
- Appeared for the first time ''Over the Eye'" in place of "'Deo favente'" in the blazon composed by Secretary of Congress Charles Thomson in 1782 (Patterson & Dougall, 75). "For Barton's motto Deo favente Thomson substituted Annuit Cœptis" (Patterson & Dougall, 78).
- Was derived from the Aeneid, bk 9, l. 625, which read, in "an [important] eighteenth-century edition of Virgil" (Patterson & Dougall, 89; cf. pp. 90-91), "Juppiter omnipotens, audacibus annue cœptis (All-powerful Jupiter, favor [my] daring undertakings)" (Patterson & Dougall, 89-91, where the Georgics, bk. 1, l. 40 is also cited).
- Was approved by Congress on 20 June 1782 in the form of Thomson's 19 June 1782 Blazon with "Remarks and explanation". The latter read, in part, "The pyramid signifies Strength and Duration: The Eye over it & the Motto [(ANNUIT CŒPTIS)] allude to the many signal interpositions of providence in favour of the American cause'" (Patterson & Dougall, 85). As for "the question, Did Congress adopt just the Great Seal design, or the 'Remarks and Explanation' as well?", "The better view seems to be that taken by the editor of the Library of Congress edition of the Journals, namely, that Congress had adopted the whole report as submitted to it, and not the blazon alone. In any case, the 'Remarks and Explanation' have an official character and status, in that they came directly from the principal creators of the seal design and are thus primary evidence of what Barton and Thomson intended the device to signify, and what Congress knew to be the intent of the designers when the device was adopted" (Patterson & Dougall, 85-86).
- "has been translated in more recent Department of State publications—in the perfect tense—as 'He (God) has favored our undertakings'" (Patterson & Dougall, 89-90).
- Was there in the proposal of the first committee, which consisted of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, as galvanized by the consultant Pierre Eugene Du Simitière; which called it "'the Eye of Providence'" (text of Du Simitière own blazon, as quoted on pp. 19-20 of Patterson & Dougall); and which submitted its design on 20 August 1776. "the description and sketch can be regarded as wholly Du Simiètre's creation; they represent his ideas alone, uninfluenced by those of members of the committee. Both his description and his sketch include four elements that carried over eventually into the Great Seal as finally adopted, two of them into the obverse and two into the reverse. They are (1) the form or outline of a shield; (2) the eye of Providence in a triangle with a glory; (3) the motto E Pluribus Unum on a scroll; and(4) the year date 'MCCCLXXVI'. According to the existing evidence, Du Simitière was the one first to propose these four elements. He set them down on paper, the description in his own handwriting and the sketch with its lettering by his own hand. Although certain writers have credited either Jefferson or Franklin with suggesting the motto, they are in error, given the documentary evidence, which points to Du Simiètre and no one else" (Patterson & Dougall, 22, who proceed to discuss Du Simiètre's source for the motto "De Pluribus Unum").
- Was "'surrounded with a Glory'" (first and second blazons of consultant to the third committee William Barton, as quoted on pp. 60 and 65-68 of Patterson & Dougall; but see for the "'Glory'" present in the very first blazon composed by Du Simitiére, see p. 26. See also the Charles Thomson blazon of 1782, as reproduced on p. 75.
- Was preceded on Franklin's part (so far as any explicitly biblical or Judeo-Christian reference is concerned) by a representation of Ex 14:21 ff. and the motto "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God" (Patterson & Dougall, 13-14); and on Jefferson's part by 1) "the children of Israel in the wilderness, led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night"), and then 2) a sympathetic revision of the proposal by Franklin: "Pharaoh sitting in an open chariot, a crown on his head & 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,
reachi& command, reaching to Moses who stands on the shore &, extending his hand over the sea, causes it to overwhelm Pharaoh. Motto. Rebellion to tyrants is obedce to god." (Undated note by Jefferson in the Jefferson Papers, Ms Div., Library of Congress, as quoted by Patterson & Dougall, 16). - Was approved by Congress on 20 June 1782 in the form of Thomson's 19 June 1782 Blazon with "Remarks and explanation". The latter read, in part, "The pyramid signifies Strength and Duration: The Eye over it & the Motto [(ANNUIT CŒPTIS)] allude to the many signal interpositions of providence in favour of the American cause'" (Patterson & Dougall, 85). As for "the question, Did Congress adopt just the Great Seal design, or the 'Remarks and Explanation' as well?", "The better view seems to be that taken by the editor of the Library of Congress edition of the Journals, namely, that Congress had adopted the whole report as submitted to it, and not the blazon alone. In any case, the 'Remarks and Explanation' have an official character and status, in that they came directly from the principal creators of the seal design and are thus primary evidence of what Barton and Thomson intended the device to signify, and what Congress knew to be the intent of the designers when the device was adopted" (Patterson & Dougall, 85-86).
BIBILIOGRAPHY:
- Bureau of Public Affairs, United States Department of State. The Great Seal of the United States. Publication no. 10411. Washington, DC: Office of Public Communication, Bureau of Public Affairs, United States Department of State, 1996 (September). 23 pp.
- Patterson, Richard & Richardson Dougall. The eagle and the shield: a history of the Great Seal of the United States. Department of State Publication 8900; Department and Foreign Service series 161. Washington, DC: Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, Department of State, under the auspices of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration, 1976. xliv + 637 pp.
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