Charles Thomson largely designed the Great Seal of the United States, whose 1776 imagery connects to the America250 founding era.
Thomson was secretary of the Continental Congress when Congress assigned him the task of creating a final design in June 1782. He combined elements from proposals made by three earlier committees. His design used a bald eagle, a shield with thirteen stripes, thirteen arrows, an olive branch, and the motto E Pluribus Unum.
Artist William Barton made additional heraldic changes, including the vertical arrangement of the shield’s stripes and the eagle’s wing position. Congress accepted the design on June 20, 1782, and the first brass die was used later that year. The seal’s reverse includes the unfinished pyramid, the Eye of Providence, and the Roman numerals for 1776.
A common mix-up credits Franklin, Jefferson, or Adams as the sole designer because all three served on an earlier committee. Thomson’s role was different: he synthesized the earlier proposals and supplied the final concept accepted by Congress.