America Adopts the Bald Eagle as Its Official National Symbol
Finn's Take· TL;DR- Congress officially adopted the Great Seal featuring the bald eagle as America's national symbol on June 20, 1782, after six years of design deliberation by multiple committees.
- The eagle's imagery—olive branch for peace, arrows for defense, thirteen stars for colonies—symbolized American independence, freedom, and unity with the motto "Out of Many, One."
- The bald eagle, native only to North America, was chosen to represent raw power and distinction from European monarchies, projecting the ideals of the new democracy.
The Day America Chose Its Icon: The Great Seal and the Bald Eagle
On June 20, 1782, the United States officially adopted the Great Seal of the United States, cementing the bald eagle as the young nation's enduring symbol of power, freedom, and independence. It was a decision that would define American identity for centuries to come, placing a fierce and majestic bird at the very heart of the country's visual and cultural DNA.
The road to this moment was anything but swift. Congress had first commissioned a design for the Great Seal immediately after adopting the Declaration of Independence in 1776, recognizing that a sovereign nation needed an official emblem to authenticate documents and project authority on the world stage. Three separate committees labored over six years, cycling through artists, diplomats, and statesmen, none producing a design that fully satisfied Congress. It was Charles Thomson, the Secretary of Congress, who finally synthesized the best elements of previous proposals into the iconic image we recognize today.
The final design placed a bald eagle front and center, its wings spread in bold defiance. In one talon, the eagle clutches an olive branch, representing the nation's desire for peace. In the other, it grips a bundle of thirteen arrows, a stark reminder that America was fully prepared to wage war to defend its freedoms. Above the eagle's head, a constellation of thirteen stars burst through a cloud, symbolizing the original colonies taking their place among the sovereign nations of the world. The eagle's beak holds a ribbon bearing the Latin motto E Pluribus Unum — "Out of Many, One" — a phrase that captured the fragile but determined unity of a brand-new republic.
The choice of the bald eagle was deeply intentional. Found only in North America, the species was a uniquely American creature, untethered from the monarchies and empires of Europe. It projected raw, natural power while soaring above the ordinary — qualities the founders desperately wanted the world to associate with their bold democratic experiment.
Not everyone was enthusiastic, of course. Benjamin Franklin famously — though likely in private jest — grumbled that the bald eagle was a bird of "bad moral character," preferring the wild turkey as a more honest representation of American virtue. History, needless to say, did not side with Franklin on this particular matter.
Today, the Great Seal appears on the one-dollar bill, on the President's flag, on government buildings, and on official state documents. The bald eagle itself became a protected species in 1940 and a conservation success story by the late twentieth century. What was decided in a single congressional session on June 20, 1782, became nothing less than the face of a nation.