July 4, 2021, column:

Proposals for what Great Seal should look like drew on biblical themes

(This column appeared in the 7-4-21 Amarillo Globe-News print edition under the byline and photo of Gene Shelburne, but Mike Haynes wrote it.)

By Mike Haynes

            On this day 245 years ago, the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia officially adopted the American Declaration of Independence. Most of the delegates didn’t sign it until Aug. 2, but July 4 ever since has been recognized as Independence Day.

            The Declaration wasn’t the only thing the Congress did that day; the representatives of the colonies were quick to get on with forming a government, including such details as coming up with a national emblem, or Great Seal, to be used on documents and agreements with other countries. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were appointed as the committee to design the seal.

            It isn’t surprising that proposals for what the Great Seal should look like drew on biblical themes. According to John D. MacArthur, an expert on the history of the seal, Franklin wanted a scene from the book of Exodus. His notes specified, “Moses standing on the Shore, and extending his Hand over the Sea, thereby causing the same to overwhelm Pharaoh, who is sitting in an open Chariot, a Crown on his Head and a Sword in his Hand. Rays from a Pillar of Fire in the Clouds reaching to Moses, to express that he acts by Command of the Deity."

Franklin suggested adding the motto, “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.”

Jefferson also was inspired by the Israelites’ departure from Egypt. He pictured them on the front of the physical seal following God’s cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. On the back, he suggested two legendary leaders of the first Anglo-Saxon settlers in Britain.

Adams’ input, according to MacArthur, was to show Hercules deciding whether to travel “on the flowery path of self-indulgence or the rugged, more difficult, uphill path of duty to others and honor to himself.”

None of those designs made it to the final seal, but they showed where the minds of those founding fathers were.

            The Hercules idea from Adams was classical, not biblical, but we know his belief in the importance of Christianity. In 1813, he wrote to Jefferson, “I have examined all religions, as well as my narrow sphere, my straightened means, and my busy life, would allow; and the result is that the Bible is the best Book in the world. It contains more philosophy than all the libraries I have seen.”

            Adams, Jefferson and Franklin all departed from orthodox beliefs at various points. I saw Jefferson’s personal version of the gospels at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., in which he cut and pasted the verses he considered essential, famously omitting Jesus’ miracles.

Some have classified all three founders as deists who believed only in a vague Creator, but they still relied heavily on wisdom from the Old and New Testaments. Adams never quit attending church, and Franklin admired the great preacher of his day, George Whitefield, so much that he attended his sermons multiple times.

And in 1787, when the Constitutional Convention was at a stalemate, Franklin said, “In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, … we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection … And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need his assistance? … the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of men. …

“And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? … ‘unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel…”

            On this day 195 years ago – July 4, 1826 – Jefferson and Adams both died in Virginia and Massachusetts, respectively. Franklin had died on April 17, 1790. I suspect that if they saw America today, they might believe we are laboring in vain.

            But today, let’s remember what Adams wrote to his wife on July 3, 1776, about independence:

            “It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

Caption for seal artwork above:

Benjamin Franklin’s 1776 idea for the Great Seal of the United States never was created, but according to seal expert John D. MacArthur, Benson Lossing made this drawing of it for “Harper's New Monthly Magazine” in July 1856. (Art from www.greatseal.com)  

(Sorry, I can't get the caption to stay with the artwork like it should!)