"The Seals of Virginia"

Edward S. Evans, "The Seals of Virginia," Seventh Annual Report of the Library Board of the Virginia State Library (1909-1910), 7-47.

Article text

Page 31

Seals of Virginia.

Part II.

Period of Statehood.

As the various quarterings on the arms of private families often depict by heraldic symbol~ great deeds performed, so the great seal of a commonwealth should not only be the symbol of sovereignty, but should be a faithful reflection of the great principles which are the foundation of the state's very existence, and an expositor of the science, literature, history and art of its period. It should be a great picture of the noble impulses and truths of the commonwealth's life reduced to a miniature, yet clear and precise in detail. In other words, it should be the multum in parvo. Such is the seal of Virginia. The importance of the great seal of the Commonwealth, as an emblem of sovereignty and an evidence of high political functions, was appreciated by the Convention of 1776, and it appointed a committee composed of some of the greatest minds of the day to prepare the design for the seal. The committee consisted of Richard Henry Lee, George Mason, Mr. Treasurer [Robert Carter Nicholas] and George Wythe. The following is an abstract from the minutes of the Virginia convention of Friday, July 5, 1 1776:

. . . "Mr. George Mason, from the committee appointed to devise a proper seal for this Commonwealth, reported that the committee had accordingly prepared the following device thereof; which he read in his place, and afterwards delivered in at the clerk's table, where the same was again twice read and agreed to.

TO BE ENGRAVED ON THE GREAT SEAL.

VIRTUS, the genius of the Commonwealth, dressed like an Amazon, resting on a spear with one hand, and holding a sword in the other, and treading on TYRANNY, represented by a man prostrate, a crown fallen from his head, a broken chain in his left hand, and a scourge in his right. In the exergon, the word VIRGINIA over the head of VIRTUS: and underneath the words Sic Semper Tyrannis. On the reverse, a groupe. LIBERTAS, with her wand and pileus. On one side of her CERES, with the cornucopia in one hand, and an ear of wheat in the other. On the other side AETERNITAS, with the globe and phoenix. In the exergon, these words:

DEUS NOBIS HAEC OTIA FECIT.

Resolved, that George Wytbe, and John Page, Esquires, be desired to superintend the engraving the said seal, and to take care that the same be properly executed. . . ." The authorship of the design has been a disputed point among historians for many years. Col. Sherwin McRae, in his report to the Governor on the State Seal, made Fell. 25, 1884, gives the credit to George Mason, emphasizing particu-

Page 32

larly the fact that the description could have been written by no other •hand than that which wrote the Declaration of Rights. I can find no grounds whatever for this view except the fact that George Mason made the report of the Committee to the Convention.

The description which thus excited Col. McRae's admiration was so lacking in clearness, and such confusion took place thereby in the designing of the seal at later times that the General Assembly passed an Act in 1873 and again in 1903 describing the seal with greater minuteness in order to overcome this difficulty.

On the other hand, the facts as stated in Geo. W. Munford’s note in the Code of Virginia, 1873, p. 122, seems to offer a stronger claim for the authorship by George Wythe than any that has ever been advanced for Mason. He says: "The late Wm. Munford, who was a pupil of Chancellor Wythe and lived in his house for several years, studied law under his guidance and direction, was in habits of great intimacy with him to the day of his death and delivered the eulogy at his funeral in 1806, stated repeatedly and implicitly to the editor that Mr. Wythe always claimed the paternity of the Seal, and the Convention, who knew to whom the honor belonged, appointed Mr. Wythe, and Mr. Jno. Page, the first as the man who designed it, to superintend the' engraving and take care that it should be properly executed."

The Committee received suggestions and help from such distinguished men as Benj. Franklin, Thos. Jefferson, Benj. West, the famous artist, and the then well-known engraver de Cimetiere. The following is the idea offered by Dr. Franklin as a design for the seal of'. Virginia:

MOSES-standing on the shore and extending his hand over the sea, thereby causing the same to overwhelm Pharoah, who is sitting on an open chariot, a crown on his head, and a sword in his hand. Rays, frame a pillow of fire in the clouds, reaching to Moses, to express that he acts by the command of the Deity.

Motto-Rebellion to Tyrants, in obedience to God.

Dr. Franklin, who was on July 4, 1776, appointed by the Continental Congress to serve on a committee with Mr. J. Adams and Mr. Jefferson "to prepare a device for a Seal of the United States of North America" offered the same scheme for the reverse of the U.S. seal and the Committee reported favorably on it, but it did not meet with the approval of Congress and was not adopted. The coat of arms for Virginia as devised by M. de Cimetiere of Philadelphia, was as follows: Field-a cross of St. George (as a remnant of the ancient Coat of Arms, showing the origin of the Virginians to be English) haying in the center a sharp pointed knife, in pale, blade argent, handle or, alluding to the name the Indians have given to that state.

In the first quarter, a tobacco plant fleury, proper.
In the second argent, two wheat sheafs in saltoir, proper.
In the third argent, a stalk of Indian corn, full ripe, proper.
In the fourth vert, four fasces waved argent, alluding to the 4 great rivers of Virginia.

N. B. The pieces contained in the above, may very well admit of a different disposition, if thought necessary, any more emblematical or heraldical.

Page 33

SUPPORTERS—Dexter, a figure dressed as in the time of Queen Elizabeth, representing Sir Walter Rawleigh, planting with his right hand the standard of Liberty, with the words of Magna Charta written on it, and with his left supporting the escutcheon.

SINISTER—A Virginian rifleman of the present times, completely accoutered.

CREST—The crest of the ancient arms of Virginia—the breast of a Virgin naked, and crowned with an antique crown, alluding to Queen Elizabeth, in whose reign the country was discovered.

Motto—Rebellion to Tyrants in obedience to God; or Rex est qui regem non habet. (Suggested by Mr. Jefferson.)

Another interesting design which there is no reason to suppose ever came before the Committee is that which appeared as heading for the Virginia Gazette during the months of May and June, 1776. It consisted of the heading “Thirteen Colonies—United we stand, Divided we fall,” below which was the following coat of arms:

On a shield a coiled rattle snake with head in dexter chief and tail in sinister base.

SUPPORTERS: Dexter—a bear rampant, with collar around neck and loose flowing rope attached to the collar;

SINISTER, a dear rampant.

Back of the bear is a stalk of growing corn, and back of the deer is growing plant of tobacco.

The CREST consists of a knight’s helmet surmounted by a wreath upon which is a demi virgin queen crowned with an ancient crown. Underneath is the motto: “Don’t tread on me.”

On July 20th, Mr. John Page wrote thus to Mr. Thomas Jefferson:

“We are very much at a loss here, for an engraver to make our seal. Mr. Wythe and myself have, therefore, thought of it proper to apply to you to assist in this business. Can you get the work done in Philadelphia? If you can, we must get the favor of you to have it done immediately. The enclosed will be all the direction you will require. The engraver may want to know the size. This you may determine; unless Mr. Wythe should direct the dimensions. He may also be at a loss for a Virtus and Libertas; but you may refer him to Spence’s Polymetis, which must be in some Library in Philadelphia.” . . .

Spence’s Polymetis referred to above was and is one of the best authorities describing Greek and Roman characters. It was published many years before this period, and the wood cuts used, though accurate in general and engraved with classical simplicity, were some of them poorly executed and as compared with our present standards of engraving.

The accompanying illustration (No. 12) is from a photograph of the cut representing “Virtus” or “Fortitudo” appearing in Spence’s Polymetis.

“Virtus is a Roman goddess, dressed either in a flowing white robe, or like an Amazon, holding in the left hand a peculiar sword, called a parazonium, sheathed and inverted, or point upward and not pendant, worn as a badge of honor, and not as a weapon of attack or defence. The right hand resting on a spear point downward and touching the earth; her head erect and face upturned; her foot on the globe—the world at her feet; posture indicating proud

Page 34

consciousness of victory—conquest completed. Such is the Roman Virtus and such the Virtus of the seal, substituting Tyranny for the globe, and especially prescribing the dress of the Amazons for Virtus.”

The significance of the entire seal depends on the significance of Virtus: fortitude, courage, and even more—virtue and abstinence, as opposed to the goddess Voluptas, but, above all, courage, that chief of Roman virtues, the foundation of the Roman Empire. “Rome, ever sustained by Virtus, the type of courage, commanded victory by not admitting the possibility of defeat.” “As by the theory of Rome, it was her destiny to accomplish everything which she undertook, she is represented not in progression, but at the time of completion ; not in action, but as having finished her work.” this is the significance of Virtus as understood by Wythe, himself a classical scholar, and by the committee who reported the device to the Convention of 1776. This fact is further emphasized by the motto on the reverse side of the seal: “Deus Nobis Haec Otia Fecit,” God has given us this ease.

The desire of the Committee to use the Polymetis as a standard, as voiced in John Page’s letter to Mr. Jefferson quoted above, was not followed, as is only too evident from the seal itself, which was made in Philadelphia and forwarded to Virginia in 1778. The figure of Virtus resembles that of a Turk with a drawn sword in her right hand and a spear, point upward, in her left. The tyrant, bearing a resemblance to George III, seems to be struggling to rise, and the whole beauty of the classical idea is destroyed. Virtus, the calm, the unconquerable, gives place to a belligerent Amazon or Turk, with victory still in the balance.

The accompanying illustration (No. 13), taken from a document in the Virginia State Library, is that of the first, or emergency, seal, engraved in Philadelphia.

In the office of the President of the University of Virginia there hangs framed a commission to John Alexander (and others) as Justices of the Peace for the County of Loudon, signed by Thos. Jefferson, dated Mar. 13, 1781, bearing a good specimen of this seal. There are other specimens on the credentials of Virginia senators on tile in the United States Senate document room.

Judging from the following extract fromm Zieber’s Heraldry in America 1895, pages 159-160, the work on the first seal was done by Pierre Eugene de Crimitiere:

“In the office of the Honorable Henry C. Kelsey, Secretary of the State, at Trenton, is the silver seal designed by [Pierre Eugene] Du Simitiere, and with it the carefully preserved report of the 6th of September, 1776. Upon a comparison of the two it will be seen at a glance that the artist deviated from the wording of the report. From his notebook it is learned that he drew the design in India ink during October, 1776, having finished the Great Seal of Virginia in August and preparing for the artistic execution of the seals of Georgia and Delaware, which he finished in November, 1776, and January, 1777, respectively. . . . ”

The date of the completion of the seal for Virginia as given in the above abstract is evidently incorrect, for we find that Mr. Page complaining of the delay in the following letter to the Speaker of the House:

Page 35

“Palace, Oct’r. 7th, 1776

“Hon’ble Sir: As Mr. Wythe and myself who were appointed by the late hon’ble convention to superintend the engraving of the Seal of the Commonwealth and to take care that the same should be properly executed, finding it impracticable to procure an Engraver in this State, those who were in any manner qualified for such an undertaking being engaged in engraving Plates for the paper Money, have been under the necessity of employing proper Persons to executed this Business in Philadelphia. I have been informed by Mr. Jefferson whom I applied to, to engage Artists qualified for the work, that he employ’d such as were excellent and that the work must in great Forwardness but, that from the Nature of it, it will be sometime before it can be completed. I expect to have a particular account of the State of this Business from Mr. Wythe by the next Post. I thought it my Duty Sir, to lay this short account of the unavoidable Delay of this important Business before you that the House may take such steps to remedy the Inconvenience arising from the want of the Seal, as they may judge proper. I have the honor to be Sir,

Your Mo. Obed’t. h’ble. Serv’t.,

John Page.

The Hon’bl

The Speaker of the

House of Delegates.”

In accordance with the suggestions in the above letter the General Assembly enacted the following:

"I. WHEREAS, by an ordinance of convention, it is declared that all commissions shall run in the name of the commonwealth of Virginia, and bear teste by the Governour with the seal of the commonwealth annexed,and certain persons were directed to provide the said seal, hut, from unavoidable delays, they have not been able to execute the same; and whereas, in some instances, of great and pressing necessity, the governor, with advice of the council, hath already granted commissions, the validity of which may be drawn into question, to remedy which inconveniences, it is necessary that some provision should now be made.

"II. Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of the commonwealth of Virginia, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the Governour, with the advice of council, shall have full power and authority henceforth to issue commissions under his signature, without any seal, until the seal of this commonwealth shall be provided, as by the said ordinance is directed; and that all commissions heretofore granted, or which may be hereafter so granted, shall be as efficacious and valid, to all intents and purposes, as if the same had issued according to the above recited ordinance."

In 1777, Gov. Patrick Henry appointed William Lee (brother of Richard Henry Lee and Arthur Lee) an agent of Virginia to France, to obtain arms and ammunition, or a loan of 2,000,000 livres to purchase the same. There was no seal to authenticate his credentials, and the delay in obtaining the seal ordered

Page 36

in Philadelphia was the source of considerable annoyance. In 1778, however, the seal was delivered, and Gov. Henry forwarded William Lee his commission under the new seal on April 10th, the receipt of which was acknowledged by Arthur Lee in a letter to Gov. Henry dated Paris, June 15, 1778.

The following is an extract from a letter from William Lee to Gov. Jefferson, dated Frankfort, Sept. 24:

"Sir:

"His Excellency Gov. Henry, was pleased in 1777, with the advice of the Council, to appoint me Agent to France, for the State of Virginia. and in 1778, by the same authority, he sent me a power under the State Seal, to obtain Arms;, Artillery, Ammunition etc. of his most X-tian majesty, ministers, 'or any other persons to the amount of 2,000,000 of livres--or to borrow money to that amount to purchase these articles with. . . "

This seal, which had been procured for use in this emergency, was the obverse of the great seal, and was small, being about the size of our present lesser seal. As before mentioned, it was incorrect in design and not at' all in accordance with the idea as set out in the Polymetis. This small seal was of course not sufficient for permanent use, and John Page proceeded to take steps to obtain a proper great seal. When he discovered that it was impossible to have the great seal satisfactorily engraved in America, he persuaded Arthur Lee, who was then in Paris on business of state, to employ a competent engraver in Europe to do the work. Arthur Lee made a few initial inquiries and wrote John Page as follows:

"Paris, May 27, 1 1778.

"The great Eeal I have also enquired about. But ~hey asked here from 100 to 150 louis d'ors for making it ill steel. I have written to Londbn to know wbat would be the price, as this seems exhorbitant. As BOOn as I am satisfied it is not so, I shaH put it in hand."

lTnfortunately, the incorrect design of the first seal had its bad influence, and in sending instructions to Arthur Lee a description of Uie former seal was given. instead of a description of the design described by law. Thus the original mi,,takes were repeated and appeared• in the seals for many years to come.

The following letter from William Lee to Arthur Lee gives this incorrect description:

"Frankfort, S Oct. l7iB.

"Dear brother:

I wrote to you the 4th and yesterday I received yours of the lBt. I forgot tAl m~nt'on that directions were given to Mr. Sauvage, orf~vre a l'ainean blanc, quai des orft\vres, pont neuf, to make his estimate for a small portable vice; as wtll as the Seal for the State of Virginia; but on reflection I think the vice will be unnecessary, because they must have had something of this sort to use their former seal with; therefore all that is now wanted will be the two silver pie<'eS properly engraved to make the proper impression on eaen side of the wax.

This ca'n't cost near what you talked oi, nor can it be difficult to execut ... 1.('t me know if you ean have it done in Paris, if not I will have it done in Holland.

See also

• American Biographical and Historical Dictionary

External links

Read this article in Google Books.