Six years, three committees, and fourteen men total contributed to the design of the Great Seal that would be affixed to all official documents issued by the country. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams, three of the Founding Fathers and signers of the Declaration of Independence, tapped Philadelphia artist Pierre Eugene du Simitiere to make the design. Jefferson and Franklin chose biblical scenes to represent on the seal, while Adams chose an ancient Greek myth motif. Congress found the design’s draft unacceptable, as it did with designs of following committees. Finally, Congress turned to its secretary, Charles Thomson, who created a seal based on the elements of the previous comittees.

On this day, June 20 in 1782, on the same day Thomson’s design was submitted, Congress approved the Great Seal of the United States.

Congress waited seven more years to declare the seal’s official use, and in the meantime several more changes went through. Philadelphia engraver James Trenchard added randomly-placed stars on the obverse side, along with rays of glory emanation outward from the eagle. Around the same time as Trenchard made his etchings, a large painting of the national coat of arms was installed St. Paul’s Chapel in New York City, bearing much similarity to Trenchard’s design.