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 turn were based on Lossing's 1856 version. [[File:Pontormo - Cena in Emmaus - Google Art Project.jpg|130px|thumb|"Supper at Emmaus", a 1525 [[Jacopo Pontormo]] painting, contains the Eye of Providence in a triangle]] Some [[Masonic conspiracy theories|conspiracy theories]] state that the Great Seal shows a sinister influence by [[Freemasonry]] in the founding of the United States. Such theories usually claim that the [[Eye of Providence]] (found, in the Seal, above the pyramid) is a common Masonic emblem, and that the Great Seal was created by Freemasons. These claims, however, misstate the facts. While the [[Eye of Providence]] is today a common Masonic