What phrase is the motto on the obverse of the Great Seal of the United States?

“E pluribus unum” is the motto on the obverse of the Great Seal of the United States.

The Latin phrase means “Out of many, one.” It appears on a scroll held in the bald eagle’s beak on the seal’s front, or obverse, side. The eagle also holds an olive branch and arrows, while a shield with thirteen stripes represents the original states.

Congress adopted the Great Seal’s design in 1782. Charles Thomson, secretary of the Congress of the Confederation, assembled major elements from earlier committee proposals, and William Barton helped finalize the design. The number thirteen recurs throughout the seal in stars, arrows, stripes, and other details.

The phrase is often confused with the other Latin phrases associated with the seal. “Annuit coeptis” and “Novus ordo seclorum” appear on the reverse, above and below the unfinished pyramid. “In God We Trust” became the official national motto in 1956, but it is not the motto on the Great Seal’s obverse.