Starting a new country comes with a long, but very important, to-do list. Such as: Create a new seal and flag (See: DYK During the War of 1812…)
The Great Seal
In 1776, the United States of America’s Continental Congress selected a committee of men, including Benjamin Franklin, and tasked them with creating a seal to represent the new country. Their design didn’t hit the mark, so Congress tabled it. In 1780, they selected another committee to try again. Like the first, the second and third committees’ designs failed to win approval. Finally, the Secretary of Congress took on the job. He pulled together all the best elements from the designs that had been suggested and added one new component—an eagle. His seal, the Great Seal, was officially adopted on June 20, 1782.
Did You Know…
- Creating the Great Seal of the United States took three committees, a combined effort of fourteen men, and six years to become a reality. Within three months of being approved, the Great Seal die was cut in brass.
- The earliest known use of the seal die was September 16, 1782. It authorized George Washington to negotiate with the British for prisoners of war.
- Eight different seal dies have been used since 1782.
- The Bureau of Engraving and Printing created a new seal die—a master—in 1986. It was based on the 1904 die and will be used to strike all new dies.
Benjamin Franklin
Fast forward almost one hundred years to the U.S.’s centennial. Newspapers began circulating a story about how Benjamin Franklin had wanted the turkey instead of the eagle to represent the country on the Great Seal. The basis of this claim came from a letter he wrote to his daughter, Sarah, on January 26, 1784. In it, he criticized the eagle on the original Great Seal. He thought it looked more like a turkey than an eagle. He wrote: “For my own part I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country.” And argued that the eagle was “a bird of bad moral character,” while the turkey was “a much more respectable bird.”
So why hadn’t he suggested using the turkey eight years before, when he’d been on that first create-a-seal committee? Maybe because it wasn’t a real letter. According to the National Archives, Franklin didn’t write the letter to his daughter. (He didn’t talk politics with her.) Instead, he sent it to a French economist and thinker to be translated into French. This was a sneaky way of sharing his public essay but doing so in the guise of a private letter. Franklin may have intended to publish it immediately, but he took the Frenchman’s advice not to do so during his lifetime. Several months after Franklin’s 1790 death, a partial translation was printed in Paris. However, a full English version didn’t appear until 1817.
Did You Know…
- The Bald Eagle, or the “American” Eagle, was chosen to represent the U.S.A. because of its strength, long life, and beauty.
- Benjamin Franklin obviously wasn’t the only one who thought the first eagle design was terrible because the eagles were different when the die for that first seal was cut.
- In 1775, Benjamin Franklin proposed the country’s national symbol be a rattlesnake.
The Turkey
If you want the quintessential American bird, you want the turkey, found in forests from Mexico to southeast Canada. Franklin declared the turkey “a bird of courage,” as well as “a true original native of America,” if “a little vain & silly.”
Did You Know…
- The name turkey came from the Turkey Fowl Turkish merchants sold to Europeans.
- All species of turkey found around the world originated in North America.
- Englishman William Strickland had a Turkey-Cock (a male turkey) in his coat of arms.
The Truth
The idea that Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey rather than the bald eagle is a myth that has lingered since the country’s centennial. It gained traction in November 1962 when the cover of The New Yorker showed artist Anatole Kovarsky’s illustration of the Great Seal with a turkey instead of an eagle. Then, in 1969, the musical 1776 premiered on Broadway. It featured a song by three of the Founding Fathers about which bird should symbolize America. John Adams wanted the eagle, Thomas Jefferson the dove, and Benjamin Franklin the turkey.
The truth is . . . although he defended the honor of the turkey, Benjamin Franklin never recommended it replace the bald eagle as our national symbol.