The Continental Congress adopted the final design of the Great Seal of the United States on June 20, 1782.
The seal’s creation took six years and involved three committees. Earlier proposals contributed elements to the final design, including the eagle, the shield, the constellation of thirteen stars, the olive branch, the arrows, the pyramid, and the Eye of Providence.
Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress, assembled the final design from the committees’ work. William Barton supplied heraldic expertise, while Thomson prepared the explanatory symbolism and Latin mottos. Congress accepted the design on June 20, 1782, during the Revolutionary War.
The first brass die was cut later that year, and the seal was first used on September 16, 1782, to authenticate a document concerning the exchange of prisoners. The adoption date is distinct from the first-use date and from the date of the Declaration of Independence.