The Confederation Congress approves and finalizes the first Great Seal of the United States on June 20, 1882. The First Continental Congress in 1776 originally commissioned Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams to create a national seal, they went on to design a national emblem that reflected the independence and aspirations of the new nation.
It took more than three committees and six years of congressional debate to complete the Great Seal. It was Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress, who submitted the final design for the Great Seal. Thomson’s uncluttered, design combined elements of previous submissions, fulfilling Congress’s expectations and gaining its approval. More
