Proposed Seal for the United States - A Stan Klos Website
Proposed
Seal for the United States Text and images courtesy
of the Library of Congress
On July 4, 1776, Congress appointed Benjamin
Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John
Adams"to bring in a device for a seal for the United States of
America." Franklin's proposal adapted the biblical story of the parting
of the Red Sea (left). Jefferson first recommended the "Children of
Israel in the Wilderness, led by a Cloud by Day, and a Pillar of Fire by night.
. . ." He then embraced Franklin's proposal and rewrote it (below).
Jefferson's revision of Franklin's proposal was presented by the committee to
Congress on August 20. Although not accepted these drafts reveal the religious
temper of the Revolutionary period. Franklin and Jefferson were among the most
theologically liberal of the Founders, yet they used biblical imagery for this
important task.
