Who assembled the final design of the Great Seal of the United States for Congress in 1782?

Charles Thomson assembled the final design of the Great Seal of the United States for Congress in 1782.

Thomson was secretary of the Continental Congress. In June 1782, Congress gave him the material produced by three earlier committees that had proposed designs for a national seal. He combined selected elements, including the bald eagle, the olive branch, the arrows, the thirteen stars, and the motto E Pluribus Unum. Engraver William Barton then made important heraldic refinements, including the shield’s vertical stripes and the eagle’s wing position.

Congress accepted the final design on June 20, 1782. The first brass die was made later that year, and Thomson used the seal on September 16, 1782, to verify signatures on a document concerning the exchange of prisoners.

The seal is often attributed broadly to Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams because they served on the first committee. Their proposals influenced later work, but they did not create the final accepted design. The seal’s imagery remains closely associated with the founding era commemorated by America250.