The report of the Lovell committee met with the same fate as the report of the first committee. It was recommitted, and nothing further was done until May, 1782, when Arthur Middleton of South Carolina, Elias Boudinot of New Jersey, and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina were appointed a committee to design a seal. The two South Carolinians were men of foreign education, and a cultivated gentleman in those days usually had some knowledge of heraldry. Boudinot had an interest in coins and medals, it is presumed, as he was appointed Director of the Mint at Philadelphia in 1795. This committee did no independent labor of a serious character, but called into consultation William Barton, A. M., a private citizen of Philadelphia. He was the son of Rev. Thomas Barton, rector of St. James Episcopal Church, his mother being a sister of the famous David Rittenhouse,[[21]] and in 1813 he published a memoir of Rittenhouse. He was also the author of a monograph on the nature and use of Paper Credit, etc. (Philadelphia, 1781). The reasons which prompted the committee to go to him are not known. It is evident, however, that he had studied heraldry, and his drawings show that he was ingenious in the use of his pencil. From the time he first appears in connection with the seal he is the central figure, until he divides the honors with the Secretary of Congress, Charles Thomson.
Rutledge’s connection with the committee was never active, and Arthur Lee, who had recently returned from France, acted with it, although never formally assigned as a member.
Barton’s first design for the seal was as follows:
A Device for an Armorial Atchievement, for the Great Seal of the United States of America, in Congress assembled; agreeable to the Rules of Heraldry:—proposed by William Barton, A. M.
Arms.
Barry of thirteen pieces, Argent & Gules; on a Canton, Azure, as many Stars disposed in a Circle, of the first: a Pale, Or, surmounted of another, of the third; charged, in Chief, with an Eye surrounded with a Glory, proper; and, in the Fess-point, an Eagle displayed, on the Summit of a Doric Column which rests on the Base of the Escutcheon, both as the Stars.
Crest.
On an Helmet of burnished Gold damasked, grated with six Bars, and surmounted of a Cap of Dignity, Gules, turned up Ermine, a Cock armed with Gaffs, proper:
Supporters
On the dexter Side: the Genius of America (represented by a Maiden with loose Auburn Tresses, having on her Head a radiated Crown, of Gold, encircled with a Sky-blue Fillet Spangled with Silver Stars; and clothed in a long, loose, white garment, bordered with Green: from her right Shoulder to her left Side, a Scarf semé of Stars, the Tinctures thereof the same as in the Canton; and round her Waist a purple Girdle fringed or; embroidered, Argent, with the Word “Virtue”:)—resting her interior Hand on the Escutcheon; and holding in the other the proper Standard of the United States, having a Dove, argent, perched on the Top of it.