Great Seal > Symbols > Olive Branch
The Olive Branch on the Great Seal
"A Figure representing Peace bearing an Olive Branch" was suggested by the second Great Seal committee (1780). And on the reverse side of their design (created by Francis Hopkinson), Liberty is seated, holding an olive branch.
Two years later when Charles Thomson put together the final design for the Great Seal, he placed the an olive branch in the eagle's stronger right talon and faced the eagle toward it. (Part of Thomson's preliminary sketch is shown above right.)
The official description of the Great Seal's states: "The American bald Eagle holding in his right talon an Olive branch, and in his left a bundle of thirteen arrows." (The number of olives or leaves is not specified.)
Thomson explained the symbolism: "The Olive branch and arrows denote the power of peace & war which is exclusively vested in Congress."
"the power of peace"
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The Great Seal of Peace Not only does it emphasize the power of peace, but the Great Seal itself was born out of peace. In the spring of 1782, there was an urgency to finalize the Great Seal (whose design process had begun six years earlier on July 4, 1776). The United States of America had won their long battle for Independence, and Britain was ready to recognize and treat them as a sovereign nation. A national seal would soon be needed to ratify the peace treaty. At the end of that summer, the first Great Seal die was cut and used on September 16, 1782 to begin sealing the peace with England – on a document authorizing General Washington to negotiate with the British and sign an agreement for the exchange, subsistence, and better treatment of prisoners of war. Indian Peace Medals given by President Washington
Visit the "Temple of Liberty Justice and Peace." |
During the American Revolution, the symbol of the olive branch was used in political drawings as well as on paper money.
The dove with an olive branch is also a symbol of peace.
NOTE: In heraldry, the symbol in a figure's right hand holds more significance than the one in its left. All dies of the Great Seal have shown the eagle facing the olive branch. The eagle on the Seal of the President, however, used to face the arrows.
"After much occasion to consider the folly and mischiefs of a state of warfare, and the little or no advantage obtained even by those nations who have conducted it with the most success, I have been apt to think that there has never been, or ever will be, any such thing as a good war, or a bad peace." – Benjamin Franklin to Jonathan Shipley, June 10, 1782
