What national emblem did the Continental Congress adopt on June 20, 1782, for official United States documents?

The Continental Congress adopted the Great Seal of the United States on June 20, 1782, for authenticating official documents.

Congress began seeking a national emblem on July 4, 1776, the same day it approved the Declaration of Independence. Three committees and six years of work produced the final design, which combined ideas from several contributors.

The seal’s obverse shows a bald eagle holding an olive branch and thirteen arrows. The thirteen stars, stripes, arrows, and leaves refer to the original states. Its reverse displays an unfinished pyramid beneath an Eye of Providence, with the Roman-numeral date MDCCLXXVI, or 1776.

The Great Seal is not simply another name for the United States flag or the presidential seal. It authenticates certain federal documents, while the seal’s imagery also appears on the reverse of the one-dollar bill. Charles Thomson supplied much of the final design and its symbolic explanation.