Who largely designed the final Great Seal of the United States?

Charles Thomson largely designed the final Great Seal of the United States.

Thomson was secretary of the Continental Congress when Congress asked him in June 1782 to assemble material from three earlier design committees. He combined elements from those proposals and supplied the explanatory description that became the basis of the final seal.

His design included the bald eagle, a shield with thirteen stripes, thirteen arrows, an olive branch, the motto E Pluribus Unum, and the constellation of thirteen stars. William Barton contributed important heraldic details to the final work.

The seal was first used in 1782 to authenticate a document concerning George Washington’s negotiations for a prisoner exchange. The reverse, with an unfinished pyramid and Eye of Providence, is part of the seal’s design but is far less often used as an actual impression.