Great Seal of the United States the crest, he used Hopkinson's constellation of thirteen stars. The motto was "E Pluribus Unum", taken from the first committee, and was on a scroll held in the eagle's beak. An eagle holding symbols of war and peace has a long history, and also echoed the second committee's themes. Franklin owned a 1702 [[emblem book]], which included an eagle with olive branch and arrows near its talons, which may have been a source for Thomson. The arrows also mirror those in the arms of the [[Dutch Republic]], the only country in Europe with a representative government at the time, which
Great Seal of the United States various flags. As a coat of arms, the design has official colors; the physical Great Seal itself, as affixed to paper, is monochrome. Since 1935, both sides of the Great Seal have appeared on the reverse of the one-dollar bill. The Seal of the President of the United States is directly based on the Great Seal, and its elements are used in numerous government agency and state seals. The design on the obverse (or front) of the seal is the coat of arms of the United States. The shield, though sometimes drawn incorrectly, has two main differences from the American