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Posted on 07/03/2005 7:54:27 AM PDT by snippy_about_it
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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 The Great Seal is Finalized – June 20, 1782 Charles Thomson Creates the Final Design of the Great Seal On June 13, 1782, Charles Thomson was given the task of coming up with a suitable device for America's Great Seal. With the reports and drawings of the three committees before him, he set to work. Two days earlier, British forces had evacuated Savannah, Georgia, and the final eastern seaboard engagement of the War would be on August 27. Fifty-three at the time, Thomson had served the past eight years as Secretary of the Continental Congress where he acquired a reputation for fairness, truth, and integrity. Well-versed in the classics, he was once a Latin master at a school in Philadelphia. Although not a well-known founder, Charles Thomson was at the heart of the American Revolution. His story is a fascinating one. Thomson incorporated symbolic elements from all three committees into his final design. For the obverse side of the Great Seal, he made the American bald eagle the centerpiece. He placed the shield upon the eagle's breast, but without the traditional figures on either side that normally support a shield. His original sketch is shown here. He gave the eagle its olive branch and bundle of arrows – symbolic elements from the second committee's designs. In the eagle's beak, he placed a scroll with the first committee's motto: E Pluribus Unum (Out of Many, One). For the crest above the eagle's head, Thomson used the a radiant constellation of thirteen stars suggested by the second committee. He described the light rays as "breaking through a cloud." For the reverse side of the Great Seal, Thomson's design reflects both the first committee's "Eye of Providence in a radiant Triangle" and the third committee's pyramid and eye. He created two new mottoes: "Novus Ordo Seclorum" (A New Order of the Ages) and "Annuit Coeptis" (Providence has Favored Our Undertakings). After consulting with Barton (who suggested vertical stripes for the shield), Thomson submitted his report to Congress on June 20, 1782. His design was approved that same day. Read the Official Description of the Great Seal of the United States along the Remarks and Explanation Thomson included in his report. It is important to know that Charles Thomson did not include his sketch or any other artwork in his final report to Congress. In its purest form, the Great Seal exists only as a written description.      |
ROTFLOL!
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Great Seal Symbols
The Power of WarArrows were first suggested by Francis Hopkinson, the consultant who did most of the work on the second Great Seal committee.
Charles Thomson placed a "bundle of Arrows" in the eagle's left talon, and William Barton specified their number be thirteen. The final Great Seal design specifies:
In heraldry, the right side is superior to the left side.
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Git yer patriot size pitcher wrought here.
Warfare between frontiersman and Indian increased in intensity during the Revolution. The British from posts at Niagara and Detroit encouraged Indian attacks that harassed the westernmost settlements. In mid-1778 George Rogers Clark with about 175 to 200 men set out on an expedition sponsored by the Commonwealth of Virginia with the ostensible purpose of defending Kentucky but with secret orders to take the British posts in the Illinois country and if possible, Detroit. In July 1778 by surprise moves and by winning the sympathy of the French settlers he captured Vincennes and Kaskaskia without firing a shot.
In December 1778 Colonel Henry Hamilton, the British commander at Detroit, retaliated, recapturing Vincennes and rebuilding the dilapidated Fort Sackville there. Clark, determined not to have Vincennes remain in British hands, started out on a bold 180-mile mid-winter march from Kaskaskia to retake the fort. Fording and ferrying numerous icy streams and flooded rivers, Clark and his nearly starved men reached Vincennes on 23 February 1779. He warned the inhabitants of his approach and marched his men back and forth with many flags to create the impression of an overwhelming force. The French welcomed the Americans and the Indians fled into the woods.
After a brief fight Hamilton agreed to surrender, and on the 25th marched his garrison from the fort between two companies of frontiersmen. Looking around as he presented his sword to Clark, Hamilton is said to have exclaimed, "Colonel Clark, where is your army?" At the same moment two other American companies entered Fort Sackville and raised the American flag.
Clark was unable to achieve his goal of capturing Detroit and did not completely halt Indian attacks on Kentucky, but his amazing exploits strengthened American claims to the Northwest territory.
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on July 03:
1423 Louis XI king of France (1461-83)
1567 Samuel de Champlain explorer (Lake Champlain)
1731 Samuel Huntington (Gov-Ct), Continental Congress pres
1738 John Singleton Copley Mass, finest colonial American artist
1828 John Austin Wharton, Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1865
1861 Peter Jackson heavyweight, boxing hall of famer
1874 Sir Apirana Turupa Ngata Kawaka NZ, Maori political/cultural leader
1883 Alfred Korzybski Poland, scientist (Science & Sanity)
1883 Franz Kafka Czech, author (Metamorphosis, Trial, Amerika)
1886 Raymond A Spruance, US admiral/fleet commander/ambassador
1893 "Mississippi" John Hurt, Played the straight natural Blues
1906 George Sanders Russia, actor (All About Eve-Academy Award 1950)
1909 Earl L Butz US Secretary of Agriculture (1971-76); a real Butz
1913 Dorothy Kilgallen Chic Ill, columnist (What's My Line?)
1925 Tony Curtis [Bernard Schwartz] Bronx NY, actor (Some Like it Hot)
1930 Pete Fountain New Orleans, jazz clarinetist (Lawrence Welk 1957-59)
1935 Harrison H "Jack" Schmitt Santa Rita NM, astronaut (Apollo 17)
1937 Tom Stoppard playwright (Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are dead-1968 Tony)
1940 Fontella Bass St Louis Mo, vocalist (Rescue Me)
1941 Gloria Allred feminist attorney
1943 Geraldo Rivera aka Gerry Rivers, nosey newsman (Geraldo)
1943 Norman E Thagard Marianna Fl, MD/astronaut (STS 7, 51-B, 30, 42)
1945 Michael Cole Madison Wisc, actor (Pete-Mod Squad)
1948 Paul Berrere rocker (Little Feat-Truck Stop Girl)
1949 Jan Smithers N Hollywood Calif, actress (Bailey-WKRP)
1951 Jean-Claude 'baby Doc' Duvalier deposed Haitian president-for-life
1962 Tom Cruise Syracuse, actor (Risky Business, Color of Money, Rainman)
1979 Lauren Alviti, Miss Rhode Island Teen USA (1997)
I use this "seal" as a place marker in CAD drawings so we know where the Engineer seal will go. In most states, the engineer seal cannot be applied to the drawings until they are ready for final issue.
Hi miss Feather.
Both Bittygirl and Spiderboy have discovered the rich cultural history of The Three Stooges.
Oh my gosh!!! YUK, YUK!!
Although not a well-known founder, Charles Thomson was at the heart of the American Revolution. His story is a fascinating one.
http://www.rebelswithavision.com/CharlesThomson.com/
CHARLES THOMSON was active in colonial resistance against Britain for decades. Although Pennsylvania conservatives kept him from being elected a delegate to the Continental Congress, Thomson was chosen as its secretary in 1774, continuing until the federal government came to power in 1789. Thomson faithfully recorded the decisions that shaped the government.
He was Secretary of the entire pre-constitutional Continental Congresses from 1774 to 1789. On July 4, 1776 the original declaration of Independence was signed by only two people, Charles Thomson as Secretary and John Hancock as President of the Continental Congress. The original signed Declaration of Independence was then taken to John Dunlap, a Philadelphia printer. John Dunlap printed 500 Hancock/Thomson "typed signed" Broadsides which were distributed to the members of Congress and the King of England. The original Declaration of Independence that was actually signed by Thomson and Hancock, however, was lost in the fever of Freedom. On August 2, 1776 the delegates returned to Philadelphia to sign a newly prepared Declaration of Independence and for some known reason Thomson was not invited to sign.
For fifteen years, from time of Revolution to the ratification of the New Constitution, Congress would meet in Philadelphia and enact laws and issue orders. The sessions ended with the delegates returning to their respective States. Upon their departure one man was responsible for carrying on with the Government of the United States and his name was Charles Thomson.
Among Thomson's many accomplishments he is credited with creating the final design of the symbol of America, the Great Seal of the United States. The seal was adopted by the Continental Congress in July 20, 1782. Thomson's Great Seal of the United States, with only minor modifications, remains in use today 218 years later. In the center of the seal is an American eagle which holds in its beak a scroll inscribed “E pluribus Unum”; in one talon is an olive branch; in the other, a bundle of thirteen arrows. A shield with thirteen alternate red and white stripes covers the eagle’s breast, and over its head a cloud surrounds a blue field containing thirteen stars.
In 1808, after 19 years of work, he provided the first American translation from Greek of the oldest version of the Old Testament of the Bible. Few now remain of the original one thousand published editions of Thomson's four-volume 1808 translation. That same year, Thomson also published his translation of the New Testament.
Appleton's Biography
THOMSON, Charles, patriot, born in Maghera, County Derry, Ireland, 29 November, 1729; died in Lower Merion, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 16 August, 1824. He was brought to this country with three other brothers by his father in 1740. The father died just in sight of land, and the young Thomsons were thrown on their own resources when they landed at New Castle, Delaware An elder brother, who had emigrated before them, gave them such aid as he could, and persuaded a countryman, Dr. Francis Allison, to take Charles into his seminary in New London, Pennsylvania Here he made rapid progress, and while yet little more than a boy he was chosen to conduct a Friends' academy at New Castle.
He often visited Philadelphia, met Benjamin Franklin there, and was brought to the notice of many other eminent men. His reputation for veracity was spread even among the Indian tribes, and when the Delawares adopted him into their nation in 1756 they , called him in their tongue "man of truth." Reverend Ashbel Green, in his autobiography, says that it was common to say that a statement was "as true as if Charles Thomson's name was to it."
He was one of the first to take his stand with the colonists, and he exercised immense influence, owing to the confidence of the people in his ability and integrity. He travel led through the country ascertaining the wishes of the farmers, and trying to learn whether they would be equal to the approaching crisis. "He was the Sam Adams of Philadelphia," said John Adams, "the life of the cause of liberty." He had just come to Philadelphia in September, 1774, with his bride, a sister of Benjamin Harrison, the signer, when he learned that he had been unanimously chosen secretary of the 1st Continental congress. "He was the soul of that political body," says Abbe Robin, the chaplain of Rochambeau. He would receive no pay for his first year's services, and congress presented his wife with a silver urn, which is still preserved in the family. He remained in this post under every congress up to 1789, not only keeping the records but taking copious notes of its proceedings and of the progress of the Revolution. When he retired into private life he made these notes the basis of a history of the Revolution but he destroyed the manuscript some time before his death, as he feared that a description of the unpatriotic conduct of some of the colonists at that period would give pain to their descendants.
(snip)
Something I ran across while doing a Google search on Charles Thomson
The Letters of Thomas Jefferson: 1743-1826
"A REAL CHRISTIAN"
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/tj3/writings/brf/jefl239.htm
To Charles Thomson Monticello, January 9, 1816
MY DEAR AND ANCIENT FRIEND,
-- An acquaintance of fifty-two years, for I think ours dates from 1764, calls for an interchange of notice now and then, that we remain in existence, the monuments of another age, and examples of a friendship unaffected by the jarring elements by which we have been surrounded, of revolutions of government, of party and of opinion. I am reminded of this duty by the receipt, through our friend Dr. Patterson, of your synopsis of the four Evangelists. I had procured it as soon as I saw it advertised, and had become familiar with its use; but this copy is the more valued as it comes from your hand. This work bears the stamp of that accuracy which marks everything from you, and will be useful to those who, not taking things on trust, recur for themselves to the fountain of pure morals. I, too, have made a wee-little book from the same materials, which I call the Philosophy of Jesus; it is a paradigma of his doctrines, made by cutting the texts out of the book, and arranging them on the pages of a blank book, in a certain order of time or subject. A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen; it is a document in proof that I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus, very different from the Platonists, who call me infidel and themselves Christians and preachers of the gospel, while they draw all their characteristic dogmas from what its author never said nor saw. They have compounded from the heathen mysteries a system beyond the comprehension of man, of which the great reformer of the vicious ethics and deism of the Jews, were he to return on earth, would not recognize one feature. If I had time I would add to my little book the Greek, Latin and French texts, in columns side by side. And I wish I could subjoin a translation of Gosindi's Syntagma of the doctrines of Epicurus, which, notwithstanding the calumnies of the Stoics and caricatures of Cicero, is the most rational system remaining of the philosophy of the ancients, as frugal of vicious indulgence, and fruitful of virtue as the hyperbolical extravagances of his rival sects.
I retain good health, am rather feeble to walk much, but ride with ease, passing two or three hours a day on horseback, and every three or four months taking in a carriage a journey of ninety miles to a distant possession, where I pass a good deal of my time. My eyes need the aid of glasses by night, and with small print in the day also; my hearing is not quite so sensible as it used to be; no tooth shaking yet, but shivering and shrinking in body from the cold we now experience, my thermometer having been as low as 12 degrees this morning. My greatest oppression is a correspondence afflictingly laborious, the extent of which I have been long endeavoring to curtail. This keeps me at the drudgery of the writing-table all the prime hours of the day, leaving for the gratification of my appetite for reading, only what I can steal from the hours of sleep. Could I reduce this epistolary corvee within the limits of my friends and affairs, and give the time redeemed from it to reading and reflection, to history, ethics, mathematics, my life would be as happy as the infirmities of age would admit, and I should look on its consummation with the composure of one "qui summum nec me tuit diem nec optat."
So much as to myself, and I have given you this string of egotisms in the hope of drawing a similar one from yourself. I have heard from others that you retain your health, a good degree of activity, and all the vivacity and cheerfulness of your mind, but I wish to learn it more minutely from yourself. How has time affected your health and spirits? What are your amusements, literary and social?
Tell me everything about yourself, because all will be interesting to me who retains for you ever the same constant and affectionate friendship and respect.
Thomas Jefferson
You can't go wrong in studying The Classics.
A scientist? On the Moon? Sacriledge! ________________________________________________
 National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas 77058 |
NAME: Harrison H. Schmitt (Ph.D.)
NASA Astronaut (former)
PERSONAL DATA: Born July 3, 1935, in Santa Rita, New Mexico. Married to Teresa Fitzgibbon. Recreational interests writing, skiing, fishing, carpentry, hiking, handball, squash, and running.
EDUCATION: Graduated from Western High School, Silver City, New Mexico; received a bachelor of science degree in science from the California Institute of Technology in 1957; studied at the University of Oslo in Norway during 1957-1958; received doctorate in geology from Harvard University in 1964.
ORGANIZATIONS: The Geological Society of America (Honorary Fellow); The American Geophysical Union (Fellow); The American Association for the Advancement of Science (Fellow); The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Fellow); Sigma XI; American Association of Petroleum Geologists (Fellow); The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (Honorary Member); New Mexico Geological Society (Honorary Member); The American Astronautical Society.
SPECIAL HONORS: Fulbright Fellowship in Norway (1957-1958); Kennecott Fellowship in Geology at Harvard University (1958-1959); Harvard Fellowship (1959-1969); Parker Traveling Fellowship at Harvard University (1961-1962); National Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of Geological Sciences, Harvard University, (1963-1964); Johnson Space Center Superior Achievement Award (1970); NASA Distinguished Service Medal (1973); Fairchild Fellow, Caltech (1973-1974); California Institute of Technology, Distinguished Graduate (1973); Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society of America (1973); Arthur S. Fleming Award (1973); Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from Colorado School of Mines (1973); Republic of Senegal's National Order of the Lion (1973); Honorary Life Membership of New Mexico Geological Society (1973); Honorary Member of Norwegian Geographical Society (1973); Honorary Fellow American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (1973); Honorary Fellow of The Geological Society, London (1974); Honorary Doctorate Degree from Rensselear Polytechnic Institute (1975); Honorary Doctorate Degree from Franklin and Marshall College (1977); International Space Hall of Fame (1977); Fellow American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (1977); Engineer of the Year Award, National Society of Professional Engineers, Legislative Recognition Award (1981); National Security Award, highest Civil Defense Award (1981); Honorary Doctorate of Astronautical Science from Salem College (1982); NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal (1982); Lovelace Award, Society of NASA Flight Surgeons (1989); G. K. Gilbert Award, Planetary Geology Division, Geological Society of America (1989); Award for Excellence, Presbyterian Healthcare Foundation (1990).
EXPERIENCE: Schmitt was a teaching fellow at Harvard in 1961 where he assisted in teaching a course in ore deposits. Prior to his teaching assignment, he did geological work for the Norwegian Geological Survey on the west coast of Norway, and for the U.S. Geological Survey in New Mexico and Montana. He also worked for two summers as a geologist in southeastern Alaska.
Before joining NASA, he was with the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Center at Flagstaff, Arizona. He was project chief for lunar field geological methods and participated in photo and telescopic mapping of the Moon, and was among USGS astrogeologists instructing NASA astronauts during their geological field trips.
He has logged more than 2,100 hours flying time -- 1,600 hours in jet aircraft.
Dr. Schmitt was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in June 1965. He later completed a 53-week course in flight training at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. In addition to training for future manned space flights. He was instrumental in providing Apollo flight crews with detailed instruction in lunar navigation, geology, and feature recognition. Schmitt also assisted in the integration of scientific activities into the Apollo lunar missions and participated in research activities requiring geologic, petrographic, and stratigraphic analyses of samples returned from the moon by Apollo missions.
Dr. Schmitt was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in June 1965. He later completed a 53-week course in flight training at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. In addition to training for future manned space flights. He was instrumental in providing Apollo flight crews with detailed instruction in lunar navigation, geology, and feature recognition. Schmitt also assisted in the integration of scientific activities into the Apollo lunar missions and participated in research activities requiring geologic, petrographic, and stratigraphic analyses of samples returned from the moon by Apollo missions.
He was backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 15.
On his first journey into space, Dr. Schmitt occupied the lunar module pilot seat for Apollo 17 -- the last scheduled manned Apollo mission to the United States --which commenced at 11:33 p.m. (CST), December 6, 1972, and concluded on December 19, 1972. He was accompanied on the voyage of the command module "America" and the lunar module "Challanger" by Eugene Cernan (spacecraft commander) and Ronald Evans (command module pilot). In maneuvering "Challenger" to a landing at Taurus-Littrow, which is located on the southeast edge of Mare Serenitatis, Schmitt and Cernan activated a base of operations facilitating their completion of three days of exploration. This last Apollo mission to the moon for the United States broke several records set by previous flights and include: longest manned lunar landing flight (301 hours, 51 minutes); longest lunar surface extravehicular activities (22 hours, 4 minutes); largest lunar sample return (an estimated 115 Kg, 249 lbs); and longest time in lunar orbit (147 hours, 48 minutes). Apollo 17 ended with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean approximately 0.4 mile from the target point and 4.3 miles from the prime recovery ship, USS TICONDEROGA.
Dr. Schmitt logged 301 hours and 51 minutes in space -- of which 22 hours and 4 minutes were spent in extravehicular activity on the lunar surface.
In July of 1973 Dr. Schmitt was appointed as one of the first Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholars at the California Institute of Technology. His appointment was extended to run through July 1975. This appointment ran concurrently with his other activities in NASA.
In February 1974, Schmitt assumed additional duties as Chief of Scientist-Astronauts.
Dr. Schmitt was appointed NASA Assistant Administrator for Energy Programs in May 1974. This office has the responsibility for coordinating NASA support to other Federal Agencies conducting energy research and development and for managing NASA programs applying aeronautics and space technology to the generation, transmission, storage, conservation, utilization and management of energy for terrestrial applications.
In August of 1975, Dr. Schmitt resigned his post with NASA to run for the United States Senate in his home state of New Mexico. He was elected on November 2, 1976, with 57% of the votes cast.
In January 1977, Schmitt began a six-year term as one of New Mexico's Senators in Washington, D.C. His major committee assignments were on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and the Select Committee on Ethics. He was the ranking Republican member of the Ethics Committee; of the Science, Technology and Space Subcommittee of Commerce, and the Consumer Sub-committee of Banking.
Since 1982, Schmitt has worked as a consultant, corporate director, and free lance writer and speaker on matters related to space, science, technology, and public policy. In 1994, he was appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin and Chairman and President of the Annapolis Center for Environmental Quality.
He broke on through to the other side.
We're giving them a Classical Education.
The Great Seal is used to seal 2,000 to 3,000 documents each year. It identifies the authority and ensures the authenticity of the documents sealed by the United States Government. As such, it provides an apt analogy of the Bible Wheel as God's Divine Seal of Approval on the structure of the Bible, the fundamental founding document of the Christian Faith.
The Great Seal was designed to explicitly acknowledge God's hand in the foundation of the United States, as stated in the official description (page 12) of the reverse side of the Seal:
The pyramid signifies strength and duration: The eye over it and the motto, Annuit Coeptis (He [God] has favored our undertakings), allude to the many interventions of Providence in favor of the American cause. The date underneath is that of the Declaration of Independence and the words under it, Novus Ordo Seclorum (A new order of the ages), signify the beginning of the new American era in 1776.
The "many interventions of Providence" include the integration of the numbers, mottos, and geometric forms of the Great Seal with God's design of the Holy Bible and His intent for the new nation. Regardless of the theological variations amongst the founding fathers, every signer of the Declaration of Independence , to a man, placed his life and sacred honor in the hands of Divine Providence, as recorded in the last sentence of that great document:
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
The Continental-Confederation Congress, a legislative body that governed the United States from 1774 to 1789, contained an extraordinary number of deeply religious men. The amount of energy that Congress invested in encouraging the practice of religion in the new nation exceeded that expended by any subsequent American national government. Although the Articles of Confederation did not officially authorize Congress to concern itself with religion, the citizenry did not object to such activities. This lack of objection suggests that both the legislators and the public considered it appropriate for the national government to promote a nondenominational, nonpolemical Christianity.
Congress appointed chaplains for itself and the armed forces, sponsored the publication of a Bible, imposed Christian morality on the armed forces, and granted public lands to promote Christianity among the Indians. National days of thanksgiving and of "humiliation, fasting, and prayer" were proclaimed by Congress at least twice a year throughout the war.
These are the men used of God to found this nation. Three of them were also commissioned by the newly formed Continental Congress to design the Great Seal. Before they adjourned on July 4, 1776, Congress passed this resolution:
Resolved, that Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, be a committee, to bring in a device for a seal for the United States of America.
Truly, the Lord's hand was on the foundation of this great country, this City on a Hill, this Beacon of Light, Life, and Liberty to all the peoples of the world! America is the Land of the Free because of the freedom wrought by Christ, our Eternal Light. May His Light shine on us forevermore!
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