Seal of the Treasury Department
The present design of the Seal of the
Department of the Treasury was approved by
Treasury Secretary
Henry H. Fowler on January
29, 1968. Because it was used by the
Board of Treasury under the Articles of
Confederation, the basic design of the
Treasury Seal has existed longer than the
Federal Government itself.
In 1788 the Continental Congress named
, and
to design seals for the Treasury
and the Navy. The committee reported on a
design for the Navy the following year, but
there is no record of a report about a seal
for the Treasury.
Treasury Department records indicate that
the actual creator of its seal probably was
, who is known to have
submitted bills to the Congress in 1780
authorizing design of departmental seals,
including one for the .
Although it is not certain that Hopkinson was
the designer, the Seal is similar to others
he designed. Also obscured by the absence of
historical proof is the reason for the
original wording that embraced all of North
America.
For nearly two hundred years, the
Seal bore the Latin inscription, "Thesaur.
Amer. Septent. Sigil." which
translates "The Seal of the Treasury of
North America." This inscription was changed
on the present design to read "The
Department of the Treasury."
Other changes to the seal was the addition
of the date "1789" to record the year the
Department was created. The Seal shows its
arms depicting balancing scales (to represent
justice), a key (the emblem of official
authority) and a chevron with thirteen stars
(to represent the original states).
|
