Seals and Symbols of the US

 

The Great Seal of the United States
This site has a great deal of information to explore on the history, images, and significance of the seal.

 

A Brief Description of the First Great Seal

 

 

 

A More Perfect Union: Symbolizing the National Union of States
An Exhibit at The Library of Congress

Great Seal Mottoes: Out of Many, One
(A part of the greatseal.com site. Be sure to look at Franklin's design for the other side of this coin.)

 

 

Early political cartoons with depictions of America

An Image for John Adams' Innaugural: image, bibliographical information.

 

"THE U.S. NATIONAL MOTTOS: "E PLURIBUS UNUM" & "IN GOD WE TRUST"
History, debate, origins, controversy

 

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Explanations of the Symbolism of the Great Seal

Official Heraldry of the United States: includes the story of the history of its design

An Explanation of the Symbolism of the Great Seal
from Continuum Digest

Symbolism of the Great Seal:
The U.S.Bureau of Engraving and Printing

 

"The Great Seal of the United States," The Galaxy Magazine, 1877 (Making of America site)

 

Explanation of the Great Seal
in the George Washington Papers at the American Memory Site

 

The Great Seal and the National Mottos of the United States

 

Explanation of the Symbolism of the Great Seal:
Santa Cruz Public Library

 

The Great Seal,
The Columbia Encyclopedia Sixth Edition

 

The Great Seal of the United States

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A Graphic Image of an 18th Century American's Advice Published in the 19th Century

Are Americans only interested in money?
What do Franklin's words and images suggest on this point?

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How do Images of the U.S. Compare with Other National Images?

A Commentary on Cruickshank's "The British Beehive"

 

Both the Illustrated London News and the Boston-based Gleason's Pictorial were popular in their respective countries in the 1850's. Can you develop any hypotheses about what Americans believed they had in common with the English, and how they were attempting to distinguish their national identity from that of the "mother country"?

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Images of America in 19th Century Books and Periodicals

Frederick Douglass's Use of American Iconography

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Images of America on
Coins and Currency

 

The 1915 Liberty Nickel

Coin and Currency Collections in the Department of Special Collections,
University of Notre Dame Libraries.

Beyond Face Value: Depictions of Slavery in Confederate Currency,
a project of the U.S. Civil War Center at Louisiana State University.

The American Currency Exhibit
hosted by The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

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Using National Symbols and Slogans in Debates

"We Are the Land of E Pluribus Unum," an argument on behalf of bilingual education.

 

I saw red in 1992, when Pat Buchanan at the Republican Convention exhorted the Amercan people "...to take back our culture, take back our country."

The E Pluribus Unum Project is funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is co-directed by Dr. John McClymer, Professor of History, Assumption College; Dr Lucia Knoles, Professor of English, Assumption College; and Dr. Arnold Pulda, Director of Gifted and Talented student programs for the public schools in Worcester, MA. Visitors are encouraged to send inquiries or suggestions.