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Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.Username: NostradennisDate: 2020-03-30 06:00:48Reaction Score: 8
Rejected Designs for the Great Seal of the United States
After they'd completed their work on the Declaration of Independence, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin were chosen by the Continental Congress to work as a committee and submit a seal design for approval.
We have the descriptions of each man's proposed seal from a letter John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail. Adams suggested an illustration depicting the Choice of Hercules. This Greek allegory has Hercules deciding which path to walk in life by deliberating with the female personifications of Pleasure and Virtue.
JOHN ADAM'S DESIGN

THOMAS JEFFERSON'S DESIGN

Jefferson's Front Side of the Great Seal
Thomas Jefferson also suggested allegorical scenes. For the front of the seal: children of Israel in the wilderness, led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

Jefferson's Reverse Side of the Great Seal
For the reverse: The two brothers Hengist and Horsa, 5th-century Saxon warriors from Germany, were the legendary leaders of the first Anglo-Saxon settlers in Britain. They came to England as mercenaries to help the Briton tribe defend themselves against the rival tribes of the Picts and Scots.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S DESIGN

The illustration above is based on the committee's revision of the design Benjamin Franklin submitted for the reverse of the seal. Franklin had a similar idea to Jefferson’s and wanted to illustrate a scene from the Exodus of the Israelites. The seal would show Moses parting the Red Sea with Pharaoh and his chariots being overwhelmed by the waters with the motto: Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. Thomas Jefferson became so enamored with this motto he incorporated it for his own personal seal design.
Thomas Jefferson proposed an edit of Franklin's suggestion which read as follows:
"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: Rays from a Pillar of Fire in the Cloud, expressive of the divine Presence and Command, beaming on Moses who stands on the shore and extending his hand over the Sea causes it to overwhelm Pharaoh.”
Benjamin Franklin was not happy with the eagle that was eventually chosen, as he explained in a letter to his daughter:
"For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen as the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perch’d on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish,... the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him."
Franklin saw the eagle as an avian aristocrat: classy-looking but unconcerned with helping the helpless.
Pierre Eugene Du Simitière Great Seal Design

Lingua franca
A lingua franca, also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language or dialect systematically used to make communication possible between groups of people who do not share a native language or dialect, particularly when it is a third language that is distinct from both of the speakers' native languages.
Latin is a dead language, ie, no longer spoken in everyday use. All of Europe was part of the Holy Roman Empire which lasted roughly one thousand years. Latin was the original language of the Romans and remained the language of imperial administration, legislation, and the military throughout the classical period. In the West it became the lingua franca and came to be used for even local administration of the cities including the law courts. Latin was the legal language of the Holy Roman Empire. The United States of America was founded during the time the Empire was still in effect and logically adopted it as well.
- Rejected Designs for the Great Seal of the United States
- Official Heraldry of the United States
- Our Documents - Original Design of the Great Seal of the United States (1782)
- The Great Seal (1776)
- Lingua franca - Wikipedia
- Ephraim and Manessah | History of the Twelve Tribes of Israel
SummaryOf the Original Great Seal's three designers two were of Welsh ancestry, namely Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. The Great Seal designs they presented were rejected for being too complicated.
"The committee members—Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams—prepared a very complicated design that was promptly tabled by Congress. However, one prominent feature of their design appeared in the design that was originally adopted—the motto E Pluribus Unum, "Out of Many, One."
All three Founding Fathers chose Biblical themes for their designs of the Great Seal. Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson both used the O.T. Book of Exodus for their theme design.
John Adams applies a Greek allegorical theme where Hercules is deciding which path to walk in life by deliberating with the female personifications of Pleasure and Virtue and seems to be the least biblical of the three, or maybe not. Eusebius of Caesarea said that "the Greeks stole any truths they possessed from the more ancient Hebrews (Israelites) when describing his work "Praeparatio evangelica". Knowing that, the John Adams Greek allegory may be alluding to a N.T. theme namely, "for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat". (Matthew vii. 13)

- 13 stars in a cloud represents the 13 tribes that were under the law of Moses which he received from the cloud
- 13 stars, 13 leaves, 13 arrows, 13 stripes, 13 colonies all pointing toward the 13 tribes of Israel
- Dan's tribe is the eagle
Ephraim is the 13th tribe
Ephraim was the 13th tribe because he was born after his brother Manasseh. He was born last to Joseph in Egypt, after Manasseh, the 12th tribe. The U.S. flag has 13 stripes, the U.S. originally had 13 colonies, in the U.S. Great Seal we find 13 stars above an eagle, also 13 arrows clutched in his left claw, and an olive branch with 13 leaves in its right claw, with a shield of 13 red and white stripes. The number 13 is associated with Ephraim and with America! Ephraims symbols were an Olive Branch, while his second symbol is a Bundle of Arrows. The first will be last and the last will be first!
In the 13 tribes of Israel remember Jacob, as he was about to die, blessed Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. The blessing that Jacob gave Joseph was that Joseph's two sons would become his sons. This is why they are considered as part of the twelve sons of Jacob or his God-given name Israel.
"And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head." (Genesis 48:17 KJV)
**The United States is Ephraim the younger and Manasseh is Great Britain the elder**
"And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations."
(Genesis 48:19 KJV)
E pluribus unum "Out of many, one"Out of the many 13 tribes of Israel comes One Nation Under God
FYI
Apologies in advance. I did not know where to put this. This was carry over and overlap from the Madoc and the Five Civilized Tribes and the United States of Armorica threads that I was working on. Not trying to rain on the OP's thread. Totally in KD's hands. Free to erase the FYI post decision. - 13 stars in a cloud represents the 13 tribes that were under the law of Moses which he received from the cloud





































