On 4 July 1776, the day the delegates to the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, a committee was formed to draft a national seal for the fledgling new nation. It would ultimately require three committees and six years to develop the seal that would eventually be a national coat of arms topped by an eagle, with a pyramid on the reverse side with the “Eye of Providence.” But early drafts submitted by the two early members of the committee, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, called for more overtly Christian symbolism.
Franklin’s idea included:
Moses standing on the Shore, and extending his Hand over the Sea, thereby causing the same to overwhelm Pharaoh who is sitting in an open Chariot, a Crown on his Head and a Sword in his hand. Rays from a Pillar of Fire in the Clouds reaching to Moses, to express that he acts by Command of the Deity.
Jefferson’s draft was nearly identical to Franklin’s, but suggested for the reverse side “Hengist and Horsa, the Saxon chiefs from whom we claim the honor of being descended, and whose political principles and form of government we have assumed.” The two Founders didn’t get their way in the final product, whose religious language includes both the nod to Providence and the Latin phrase annuit cœptis, “He has favored our undertakings.”
Click Here to Read More (Originally Published at First Things)
