Ancient Web: GreatSeal.com Explained How America Chose Its Emblem

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.

The Great Seal of the United States is familiar from the back of a dollar bill. How the eagle, pyramid, eye, and Latin mottoes ended up together is a much longer story—and one individual gave it a website of its own.

Visit GreatSeal.com.

The site identifies John D. MacArthur as its webwright and says it has been online since 1998. It is arranged as a navigable history of the emblem's creation, its official use, interpretations of the design, and misconceptions about its symbolism. The structure still resembles a dedicated reference book more than an endlessly updated news site.

Three committees, six years, one seal

The design-process chronology starts on July 4, 1776, when Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams to propose a national seal. The site follows three committees and the work of Charles Thomson, whose final 1782 design became the basis of the official emblem.

Visitors can follow the story committee by committee, then examine separate sections on the bald eagle, shield, olive branch, arrows, stars, unfinished pyramid, and the mottoes E Pluribus Unum, Annuit Coeptis, and Novus Ordo Seclorum. There are also galleries of early engraved dies, government realizations, and versions printed on money.

A myths section responds to claims made about the symbolism. It notes that the seal predates its appearance on the one-dollar bill by a century and a half. Other pages examine the widespread association of the pyramid and eye with Freemasonry, and distinguish historical design evidence from speculation.

The introduction points toward the U.S. Department of State's official history as its basis. That is a useful qualification: GreatSeal.com is an individually curated secondary guide, not the government body entrusted with using the seal.

Its web design has dense columns, image-based navigation, thematic menus, and direct links that let a reader pursue one element without reading the whole history. Some pages contain later commentary, including present-day political references, which should not be confused with the original 1998 publication date or with official government statements.

A national emblem can become so familiar that its history disappears behind the image. This unusually focused site keeps the intermediate drafts and arguments visible.

Explore the original design chronology and emblem drawings.

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.