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Article: Seal of the United States
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES
SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES.
The seal of the United States, or the Great Seal, is the official embossed emblem that validates a U.S. government document. On 4 July 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a committee to design the seal, but it took Congress six years more to obtain a satisfactory design. The obverse of the seal that was finally adopted is still in use; it depicts the American eagle, as Charles Thomson suggested, while the reverse displays a pyramid and the Eternal Eye of God (symbols of the Freemasons), as proposed by William ...