It is never to be affixed till the commission is signed, because the signature which gives force and effect to the commission, is conclusive evidence that the appointment is made.
The commission being signed, the subsequent duty of the Secretary of State is prescribed by law, and not to be guided by the will of the President. He is to affix the seal of the United States to the Commission, and is to record it. (1 U. S. Reports, 374.)
As the duties of the Government have expanded, the impracticability of having the seal of the United States attached by the Department of State to the commissions of officers who are under some other Department has been recognized by Congress. By the act of March 18, 1874,[[33]] the commissions of postmasters were directed to be made out under the seal of the Post-Office Department; the act of March 3, 1875,[[34]] placed the commissions of officers of the Interior Department under that Department; by act of August 8, 1888,[[35]] all judicial officers, marshals, and United States attorneys were ordered to be appointed under the seal of the Department of Justice; and by an Executive order of June 16, 1893, President Cleveland directed that all warrants of pardon and commutations of sentence granted to offenders convicted in the courts of the United States should thereafter be made out under the seal of the Department of Justice.
At the present time the seal of the United States is affixed to the commissions of all Cabinet officers and diplomatic and consular officers who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate; all ceremonious communications from the President to the heads of foreign governments; all treaties, conventions, and formal agreements of the President with foreign powers; all proclamations by the President; all exequaturs to foreign consular officers in the United States who are appointed by the heads of the governments which they represent; to warrants by the President to receive persons surrendered by foreign governments under extradition treaties; and to all miscellaneous commissions of civil officers appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, whose appointments are not now especially directed by law to be signed under a different seal.
GLOSSARY OF HERALDIC TERMS.
Argent—silver, represented in engraving by plain surface.
Atchievement or achievement—a complete heraldic composition.
Azure—blue, represented in engraving by horizontal lines.
Barways or barwise—horizontally.