Government Printing Office
1909
CONTENTS
| Page. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Letter of Transmittal | [5] | |
| I. | The First Device | [7] |
| II. | The Lovell Committee | [18] |
| III. | William Barton’s Designs | [23] |
| IV. | The Secretary’s Device | [33] |
| V. | The Arms Adopted | [41] |
| VI. | The Illegal Seal | [48] |
| VII. | The Third Seal | [53] |
| VIII. | The Fourth Seal | [63] |
| IX. | Uses of the Seal | [65] |
| Glossary of Heraldic Terms | [69] | |
| Index | [71] |
To the Honorable Philander C. Knox,
Secretary of State.
Sir: In 1892, when I was serving in your Department, by direction of Secretary James G. Blaine I prepared an historical sketch of the seal of the United States, entitled “The Seal of the United States: How It was Developed and Adopted,” which the Department printed. It was prepared in a given time and was meager; and since it appeared I have gathered additional information concerning the history of the seal, which I now have the honor to offer the Department, the edition of the monograph of 1892 being exhausted.
In 1897 Mr. Charles A. L. Totten published his two-volume work in New Haven, “Our Inheritance in the Great Seal of Manasseh, the United States of America: Its History and Heraldry; and Its Signification unto the ‘Great People’ thus Sealed;” and I take pleasure in acknowledging my indebtedness to Mr. Totten’s book for much valuable information concerning the seal.
I have the honor to be, Sir,
Your obedient servant,