The Nations Heraldry on the One Dollar Bill

 

I have believed for a number of years that I am a well-educated individual, then a few days ago realized that I had no idea of what the images on a One Dollar Bill signifies, nor the story behind the composition. Humility is good for all of us so I will accept this significant gap in my knowledge. After much thought I have chalked it up to being of the era of the “Silver Dollar”. I was most unhappy when Montana quit using the Silver Dollar as our only mode of a dollar and my wallet became stuffed with petty one-dollar bills. They were and still are a real nuisance to me. The point of this dialogue is that very possibly I am not the only Montana, Granite County or Philipsburg native that has never been instructed on the story written on our One-Dollar bill, so I am offering up this bit of education. 

 

On July 4, 1776, when the Continental Congress declared that the American people were going ”to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature and Nature’s God entitle them,” it appointed a committee to design and propose a “seal for the United States of America”. This seal was to be the official expression of sovereign authority we were fighting for in the War of Independence. Due to the matters at hand, specifically a hard-fought war, this action was delayed and the recommendations submitted by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were not acted upon and four years went by before a second committee was formed and they made their own recommendations. It was another two years later, while peace talks were underway that the need for an official seal became pressing and a third committee was appointed. 

Charles Thomson, Secretary of the United States Congress was asked to take the recommendations of the three committees into account and submit a proposal for the Great Seal. The incorporation of these recommendations is signified on the back of our One Dollar Bill. I am sure most of us know George Washington is on the front of the bill, but I have never paid much attention to the engravings on the back. Looking at the back of a dollar bill you will see on the right side a depiction of the front of the Great Seal and on the left the depiction of the back side of our Great Seal. Thomson submitted to Congress what heraldists call a “blazon” accompanied by remarks and explanation on June 20, 1782. Thomson’s words alone, which are part of the law officially approving the Seal, are the final authority for what the Great Seal of the United States is and what it means. On the front we behold an American Bald eagle bearing on its breast a shield with 13 vertical stripes; clutching in its left talon 13 arrows and in its right talon an olive branch; a scroll held in the eagles beak; the eagle’s head is turned right towards the olive branch; a scroll held in the eagle’s beak bears the famous motto in Latin E Plutbis Unum; and a crest above the eagle’s head contains 13 stars which “glory” emanates, breaking through a cloud. This is our Nations Coat of Arms. Thirteen represents our original 13 states; the Latin motto “out of many, one” expresses the joining of those states into a nation; the shield represents born on the breast of an American Eagle without any other supporters to denote that the United States of America ought to rely on their own virtue; the olive branch and arrow denote the power of peace and war; the eagles head is turned to the olive branch rather than the arrows because we fight wars for the sake of peace. On the reverse side of the Great Seal is a Pyramid unfinished. In the Zenith an Eye is a triangle surrounded with glory proper with “Annuit Coeptis” (He approves of what has been started); on the base of the Pyramid the numerical letters MDCCLXXVI (1776) and underneath the motto “Novus Ordo Seclorum” (New Order of the Ages). This Pyramid signifies Strength and Duration with the Eye over it and the Motto alluding to the many signal interpositions of providence in favor of the American cause and the date signifies the Declaration of Independence and the beginning of the new American Era. This Era has now survived 250 years.