- [Historian] This is Charles Thompson's design.
- [Historian] His design, but not the official?
- It's not the final.
- Not the final.
But it was the one that was approved.
- I would say this is really the breakthrough.
There's long tradition in Western countries that spread all around the world that for highly special, formal documents a seal is applied to show everyone the authenticity of the document.
And so the United States needed a great seal for things like treaties to make sure that people respected the commissions that it gave to its officers, both military and civilian, and for other ceremonial purposes to be able to play on the same kind of stage that the other countries of the world did at the time.
- The Eagle has a long historical set of values.
So you have, let's say in Rome, the Aquila, which was the symbol of military strength.
There's the keen eyesight, the predation.
There's just these aspects of the bird that are associated really with the kind of violence of military conquest.
So there's a lot that's, you know, what you could call apotropaic about a symbol.
It wards off evil, and it's about reflecting out, you know, and not so much that you live in that form of domination, but that you are actually using it almost as a mirror to your enemy to make you stronger than yourself.
- [Historian] So that is the seal of the United States of America.
- First seal of the United States, right?
And the first time it was used was in September 17th, 1782, and was commission for George Washington.
- And this is officially called the Great Seal of the United States of America.
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