Chapter II: The Lovell Committee

On June 14, 1777, Congress adopted the national flag of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, with a union of thirteen white stars upon a blue field, “representing,” as the law said, “a new constellation.” The flag had actually come into use in the army some months before it received legal sanction, its chief features probably suggested by the Dutch standard. The red denoted daring, the white purity, and the stars the States in union.[17]

Reverse
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Arms

DESIGNS OF THE SECOND COMMITTEE

[Reduced one-half]

Face p. 19
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The American minister to France, Silas Deane, complained of the informality and impropriety of the representatives of the sovereignty of a nation being without a seal with which to authenticate their official acts, but the subject was treated with indifference. On January 23, 1777, a committee appointed to examine the files of Congress, William Ellery of Rhode Island, chairman, selected certain papers which it thought required the consideration of Congress—among them the “Report on a Device for a public seal”[18]—but it was not until March 25, 1780, that the report was taken up again, when James Lovell of Massachusetts, John Morin Scott of Virginia, and William Churchill Houston of New Jersey were appointed a committee to report a design for a great seal, and to them was referred the report of the first committee. The chairman of the committee and the most important member was Lovell. He was a Boston school-teacher and a graduate of Harvard College. Being imprisoned by the British after the battle of Bunker Hill, he was later exchanged and entered Congress in December, 1776, where he served till 1782, being for a long time on the Committee of Foreign Affairs. While serving on this committee he must have received Deane’s complaint that Congress had no seal. Lovell was regarded as a man of great learning, but was extremely eccentric in his manners and speech.[19] The committee reported May 10:

The Com̃ittee to whom was referred on the 25^{th} of March last the
report of a former Com̃ittee on the Device of a Great Seal for the
United States in Congress assembled, beg Leave to report the following
Description.

The Seal to be 3 Inches in Diametre

On one Side the Arms of the United States, as follows; The Shield
charged on the Field Azure with 13 diagonal Stripes alternate rouge
and argent—Supporters; dexter, a warriour holding a Sword; sinister, a
Figure, representing Peace bearing an Olive Branch—The Crest—a radiant
constellation of 13 Stars—The motto _Bello vel Paci_; The Legend round
the Atchievement—The great _Seal of the United States of America_

On the reverse, The Figure of Liberty seated in a Chair holding the
Staff and Cap—The motto _virtute perennis_—underneath, MDCCLXXVI.

A Drawing of the Seal is annexed—

May 10^{th} 1780—

A Miniature of the Face of the great Seal to be prepared of Half the
Diametre, to be affixed as the less Seal of the United States.

The report is endorsed, “Report of the Come^{ee}. on the device of a great Seal—Delivered May 10, 1780 read—May 17, 1780 Recommitted. N. B. The within report has been altered since the Recommitment of May 17, 1780,” the endorsement being in the handwriting of Charles Thomson, the Secretary of Congress, except the note, which is in the same hand as the report, apparently,[20] that of Houston; but the motto _virtute perennis_ in the report is in Thomson’s hand. The committee submitted designs of both obverse and reverse. The more finished of those for an obverse has the stripes alternate white and red, whereas the report called for red and white. A second and rougher design shows a slightly different arrangement of the constellation, a helmet as a crest, which is struck out as unsatisfactory, and a shield with alternate _red_ and _white_ stripes. For dexter supporter there is a naked Indian carrying in his right hand a bow and arrow.

Two drawings were made for the reverse, the differences between them not being great. In one the figure carries in her left hand a sword instead of an olive branch, and at the bottom is the date MDCCLXXX, while at the top the motto, “Aut haec aut nullus,” has a line drawn through it; another has over the top outside the circle the words “Libertas virtute perennis,” a line having been drawn through the word “Libertas;” within the circle is the word Semper struck out and the date is MDCCLXXVI. Underneath is this fragment of a note: “a rough Sketch of the Design & Decorations by the ——.”

The report of this committee is important, because it shows for the first time the use of the constellation of thirteen stars, the shield, and the white and red and red and white stripes. The stripes and stars had undoubtedly been adopted from the flag. In these designs appears for the first time the olive branch as an emblem of peace.