The Great Seal of the United States

Its History, Symbolism and Message for the New Age (9th Edition)

Paul Foster Case

• Publisher: Papamoa Press
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781789122053
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

The Great Seal of the United States, which was first published in 1935, is a fascinating exposition of the history and spiritual symbolism of an important American emblem that embodies the principles and ideals of the founders of this country.In this book, American occultist, B.O.T.A. founder, teacher and author Dr. Paul Foster Case reveals the Great Seal to be a profound spiritual glyph created by the Founding Fathers as a representation of the ideals of the Novo Ordo Seclorum, the New World Order.A fascinating, thought-provoking read.

 

CHAPTER I — HISTORY OF THE SEAL

THE purpose of this little book is to set before you, as briefly as is consistent with clearness, certain facts concerning the history, symbolism and significance of the seal of the United States. As the national arms, the seal states symbolically the principles which animated the founders of the republic. Today those principles are being forgotten. Because they are neglected in our political and economic practice, grave danger threatens the national life. To avert that danger, we must go back to the fundamentals of true Americanism, clearly set forth in the symbolism of the seal.

In the official History of the Seal of the United States, published by the Department of State in 1909, Gaillard Hunt writes:

“Late in the afternoon of July 4, 1776, The Continental Congress ‘Resolved, That Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams and Mr. Jefferson be a committee to prepare a device for a Seal of the United States of America,’ this being the same committee, except for the omission from it of Robert R. Livingstone and Roger Sherman, which had drawn up the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration had been signed about two o’clock in the afternoon, and the members of the Congress assembled after dinner desired to complete the evidence of the independence of the United States by formally adopting an official sign of sovereignty and a national coat of arms. It was intended that the device for the seal should be the device for the national arms, and the first and each succeeding committee having the business in charge construed its duty to be to devise the arms by devising the seal.”

In the design proposed by the first committee the obverse of the seal was a coat of arms in six quarters, with emblems representing England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany and Holland, the countries from which the new nation had been peopled. The Eye of Providence in a radiant triangle, and the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM were also proposed for the obverse.

For the reverse they suggested a picture of Pharaoh sitting in an open chariot, a crown on his head and a sword in his hand, passing through the divided waters of the Red Sea in pursuit of the Israelites. Hovering over the sea was to be shown a pillar of fire in a cloud, expressive of the Divine Presence and command. Rays from this pillar of fire were to be shown beaming on Moses, standing on the shore and extending his hand over the sea, causing it to overwhelm Pharaoh. The motto for the reverse was: REBELLION TO TYRANTS IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD.

A second committee, appointed by Congress on March 25, 1780, considered the report of the first committee, and submitted further suggestions in which we find the first mention of a constellation of thirteen stars, a shield, red and white stripes, and an olive branch as a symbol of peace.

A third committee was appointed in 1782, and on June 20 of that year its report was accepted by Congress. The text of that law is as follows:

On report of the secretary, to whom were referred the several reports on the device for a great seal, to take order:

The device for an armorial achievement and reverse of the great seal of the United States in Congress assembled, is as follows:

ARMS. Paleways of thirteen pieces, argent and gules; a chief, azure; the escutcheon on the breast of the American eagle displayed proper, holding in his dexter talon an olive branch, and in his sinister a bundle of thirteen arrows, all proper, and in his beak a scroll, inscribed with this motto, “E Pluribus Unum.”

For the CREST. Over the head of the eagle, which appears above the escutcheon, a glory, or, breaking through a cloud, proper, and surrounding thirteen stars, forming a constellation, argent, on an azure field.

REVERSE. A pyramid unfinished. In the zenith, an eye in a triangle, surrounded with a glory proper. Over the eye these words, “Annuit Coeptis.” On the base of the pyramid the numerical letters MDCCLXXVI. And underneath the following motto, “Novus Ordo Seclorum.”

REMARKS AND EXPLANATION

The Escutcheon is composed of the chief and pale, the two most honourable ordinaries. The pieces, paly, represent the Several States all joined in one solid compact entire, supporting a Chief which unites the whole & represents Congress. The Motto alludes to this union. The pales in the arms are kept closely united by the chief and the chief depends upon that Union & the strength resulting from it for its support, to denote the Confederacy of the United States of America & the preservation of their Union through Congress. The colours of the pales are those used in the flag of the United States of America: White, signifies purity and innocence. Red, hardiness & Valour, and Blue, the colour of the Chief signifies vigilance, perseverance & justice. The Olive branch and arrows denote the power of peace & war which is exclusively vested in Congress. The Constellation denotes a new State taking its place and rank among other sovereign powers. The Escutcheon is born on the breast of an American Eagle without any other supporters, to denote that the United States of America ought to rely on their own Virtue.

Reverse. The pyramid signifies Strength and Duration: the Eye over it & the Motto allude to the many signal interpositions of Providence in favour of the American cause. The date underneath is that of the Declaration of Independence and the words under it signify the beginning of the new American Æra, which commences from that date.

Besides the nine members of the three committees, four persons were directly concerned with the composition of the seal. An artist named Du Simitiere made sketches for the first committee. William Barton, a private citizen of Philadelphia, drew several designs for the third committee. So did Charles Thomson, then secretary of Congress, who chose the mottoes for the reverse. More than a hundred years passed before James Horton Whitehouse, chief designer for Tiffany & Co., drew the official version of the seal in 1884. He was the thirteenth person responsible for the formulation of the national arms.

A die of the obverse was cut in 1782, but it showed a crested eagle instead of the American bird prescribed by law. A second die, cut in 1841, had an American eagle, but there were only six arrows in his sinister talon. No reverse was cut for either of these incorrect seals.

July 7, 1884, Congress passed an act making appropriation “to obtain dies of the obverse and reverse.” In December of that year Mr. Whitehouse’s designs were accepted, and a die for the obverse was cut by Tiffany & Co. By 1902 this was badly worn, and an exact duplicate was made, which is now used by the Department of State.

The reverse has never been cut. On the ground that it “can hardly look otherwise than as a dull emblem of a masonic fraternity,” the explicit directions of the Acts of 1782 and 1884 have never been obeyed. For more than a century the ignorance of the many and the bigoted prejudices of a powerful minority have combined to bring about the violation of two laws as specific and mandatory as any on our statute books. To this day the intention of the founders of our nation remains but half fulfilled.

CHAPTER II — FREEMASONRY AND THE AMERICAN IDEAL

The conceptions behind the pattern of government adopted in 1776 are expounded in the lectures, dramatized in the rituals, and summarized in the symbols of Freemasonry. Prior to 1776, the only place where these principles were explained and put into practice, either in England or in America, was the Masonic lodge. Eighteenth century lodges were schools, teaching and practicing liberty, equality and fraternity. In their lodges Masons of that period met as equals, and learned from innumerable experiences of practical helpfulness, one to another, the g...

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• CHAPTER I - HISTORY OF THE SEAL
• CHAPTER II - FREEMASONRY AND THE AMERICAN IDEAL
• CHAPTER III - THE NUMBER THIRTEEN
• CHAPTER IV - THE NUMBER-LETTER CODE
• CHAPTER V - SYMBOLISM OF THE OBVERSE
• CHAPTER VI - SYMBOLISM OF THE REVERSE
• REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER