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Friday, February 27, 2009

United States National Emblem

The Great Seal was finalized and approved on June 20, 1782 and reflects the beliefs and values that the Founding Fathers wanted to pass on to their descendents.
In the center of the seal is an bald eagle, our national bird. It holds in its beak a scroll inscribed E pluribus unum, which is Latin meaning "out of many, one" and stands for one nation that was created from 13 colonies. In one claw is an olive branch, while the other holds a bundle of thirteen arrows. The olive branch and arrows "denote the power of peace and war."
A shield with thirteen red and white stripes covers the eagle's breast. The shield is supported solely by the American eagle to denote that Americans should rely on their own virtue. The red and white stripes of the shield represent the states united under and supporting the blue, representing the President and Congress. The color white signifies purity and innocence; red, hardiness and valor; and blue signifies vigilance, perseverance, and justice. Above the eagle's head is a cloud surrounding a blue field containing thirteen stars, which forms a constellation. The constellation denotes that a new State is taking its place among other nations.


The bald eagle owes its name to the early American colonist, and is bald in name only.
The American eagle was white-headed compared to the European gray eagle and the colonists translation for describing white headed ended up bald.

Emblems are pictures with a motto or set of verses intended as a moral lesson and played great importance in History. Since ancient times, men have identified themselves with the eagle, because it creates an impression of majesty and of power while in flight. Others that associated themselves with the symbol were ancient Romans, Emperor Charlemagne, and Napoleon so aren't we happy that the US followed suit rather than taking Ben Franklin's suggestion of a turkey............
He considered the eagle a "bird of bad moral character" because it lives "by sharping and robbing."

For me the difference is......... "free/self reliant or hand fed "...............


I vote for the Eagle

3 comments:

Linda G. said...

Thank you for posting this, Changes. In these confusing times, we need to remind ourselves of the meaning behind our National symbols. Well done!

JeanMac said...

I love this post - so informative. As many times as I have looked at it, I did not notice the stripes before.Thanks!

bigbikerbob said...

Hi, A nice post,I didn't realise what all the things on your flag stood for until now. We in the UK are having real problems with the "PC" brigade, in some cases challenging the raising of the National flag !!!!.