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 [[File:National seal.JPG|thumb|The reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States, as seen in [[Freedom Plaza]].]] At the [[Freedom Plaza]] in [[Northwest, Washington, D.C.|Northwest Washington, D.C.]], there is a monument to the Great Seal of the United States. This includes a plaque of the seal, followed by an inscription that reads: In 1776 the continental congress adopted a resolution calling for the creation of a seal for the new nation. In June 1782 the United States Congress approved a design which was manufactured in September of that year. In early 1881 the Department of State selected a new design