Who prepared the final design of the Great Seal of the United States in 1782?

Charles Thomson prepared the final design of the Great Seal of the United States in 1782.

Thomson was secretary of the Continental Congress when Congress asked him to assemble a final proposal from material developed by three earlier committees. He submitted the design on June 20, 1782, and Congress accepted it the same day. The seal’s obverse features a bald eagle, a shield, an olive branch, arrows, a constellation of thirteen stars, and the motto E Pluribus Unum.

The project began on July 4, 1776, but took six years to complete. Fourteen people contributed across the committees and later work, so the seal was not simply the creation of one artist. William Barton supplied important heraldic work, while earlier committee members proposed several symbols and mottos.

The first brass die was cut later in 1782. The seal was first used on September 16 to authenticate a document authorizing George Washington to negotiate a prisoner exchange. The reverse design, including the unfinished pyramid and Eye of Providence, was not placed on a die at that time.