On the Great Seal, 13 stripes are present to denote the original 13 colonies. Franklin and Thomas Jefferson wanted the seal to include an Egyptian pharaoh, too. That is the symbol for , which is the date of the Declaration of Independence. On your dollar bill, there are serial numbers with two letters and eight numbers.
The first letter — which will be between A and L — indicates which bank issued the bill. The letters stand for:. Grab a magnifying glass, and check out the top right corner of your dollar bill. Look very closely at the fourth row of the pyramid on the back of the dollar. Was it purposely designed? We might never know. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing states that you would have to fold a bill back and forth 4, times before it would tear.
If the BEP notices a mistake with a bill after it is printed, the bill is replaced with a new note that has its own serial number followed by a star. In , Sens. The original seal, which was similar to the current design approved in , was designed by Francis Hopkinson, a delegate to the Continental Congress.
The symbols on the flip side of the dollar hold a lot of meaning. They include both sides of The Great Seal of the U. Let's start there: The plate serial number 56 again simply identifies the actual engraving plate this side of the note was printed on.
Remember, the front and back of the bill are printed using different plates, hence they have different plate serial numbers.
Now onto the Great Seal. The seal dates back to the country's Founding Fathers. Before they adjourned the Continental Congress on July 4, , they formed a committee — it included John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin — to design a seal that would be symbolic of the new country's ideals. It wasn't until five years later, though, that the final design was approved by Congress. The seal's design is credited to Charles Thomson, who was a leading merchant in Philadelphia and secretary of the Continental Congress at the time.
Thomson's design includes lots of symbolism he and the Founding Fathers intended. The obverse , for instance, features an American eagle with a shield on its breast as the central figure. In the eagle's right talon is an olive branch, and in the left talon are bundles of arrows. In its beak the eagle is clutching a white scroll inscribed " E Pluribus Unum " Latin for "Out of many, one". Above the eagle is a crest that includes a constellation of 13 stars.
Thomson explained to Congress that the shield's blue horizontal band represents Congress, and its 13 red and white vertical stripes signify the 13 original colonies. The 13 stars above the eagle "denote a new state taking its place and rank among other sovereign powers. The reverse of the seal features an unfinished pyramid, which is made of 13 rows of building blocks; on the first row are the Roman numerals representing At the top of the pyramid is an eye and rays that radiate outward.
Thomson told Congress he chose a pyramid to symbolize strength and longevity, and the the eye and motto above to "allude to the many signal interpositions of providence in favour [sic] of the American cause. Got all that? Good thing because the U.
And we're glad because we have no intention of ever writing this article again. The largest denomination of U. The U. Sign up for our Newsletter!
The horizontal top bar of the shield symbolizes the federal government, and it holds together yet is supported by vertical bars that represent individual states 13 at the time it was designed. The eagle on the back of the dollar bill holds an olive branch representing peace in its right talon and arrows symbolizing war in its left talon.
But on silver coins from to , the eagle held them in opposite talons. Unsurprisingly, the number 13 — the original number of American states — appears on the dollar bill. But you might be surprised by how many times the number shows up. There are 13 arrows, 13 olive branch leaves, 13 olive fruits, 13 stars above the eagle, 13 steps of the pyramid, and 13 bars on the shield.
Under the scales are 13 stars, one for each of the original colonies. The key on the bottom signifies official authority. Latin phrases appear a few times on the dollar bill.
0コメント