1862 : The first one-dollar bill was issued as a Legal Tender Note ( United States Note ) with a portrait of Salmon P. Chase , the Secretary of the Treasury under President Abraham Lincoln . [4] [ 1869 : The $1 United States Note was redesigned with a portrait of George Washington in the center and a vignette of Christopher Columbus sighting land to the left.
Obverse and Reverse
George Washington. 1 st President of the United States. Painted by Gilbert Stuart. The portrait of George Washington is displayed in the center of the obverse of the one-dollar bill, as it has been since the 1869 design. Below the FRD seal (to the left of George Washington) is the signature of the Treasurer of the U.S., which occasionally varies, and below the USDT Seal (right side) is the Secretary of the Treasury's signature.
To the right of George Washington is the Treasury Department seal. The balancing scales represent justice. The chevron with thirteen stars represents the original thirteen colonies. The key below the chevron represents authority and trust; 1789 is the year that the Department of the Treasury was established.
To the left of George Washington is the Federal Reserve District Seal. The name of the Federal Reserve Bank that issued the note encircles a capital letter, (A-L), identifying it among the twelve Federal Reserve Banks . The sequential number of the bank, (1: A, 2: B, etc.), is also displayed in the four corners of the open space on the bill. Until the redesign of the higher denominations of currency beginning in 1996, this seal was found on all denominations of Federal Reserve Notes. Since then it is only present on the $1 and $2 notes, with the higher denominations only displaying a universal Federal Reserve System seal, and the bank letter and number beneath the serial number.
Many people believe they can see a tiny owl (some say it is a spider) next to the large "1" on the upper right of the bill. If you look at the shield shape that surrounds that "1," the tiny owl rests on the top left corner. More than likely, the markings are nothing, just a point where the webbed design of the border varies. That won't stop some people from associating the peculiar detail with Masonic symbols, or with more practical things, like anti-counterfeit measures. Laurel Leaves- Bay laurel was used to fashion the laurel wreath of ancient Greece , a symbol of high status. Looking carefully, you’ll see a lot of unopened bay laurel buds on the stems around, symbolizing that the US is young, and yet to reach its “full bloom”.
"IN GOD WE TRUST," which became the official motto of the United States in 1956 . Both reverse and obverse of the Great Seal contain symbols of historical, political, religious, and numerological significance .
Before the adjournment of the Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776, a committee was appointed to develop a seal for the United States. The committee was Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, three of the five men who had drafted the Declaration of Independence. They were merely the first committee, however. It took six years, the work of two additional committees and a total of 14 men before a final version of the Great Seal was approved.
The reverse of the seal on the left features a barren landscape dominated by an unfinished pyramid of 13 steps, topped by the Eye of Providence within a triangle. At the base of the pyramid are engraved the Roman numerals MDCCLXXVI (1776), the date of American independence from Britain. At the top of the seal stands a Latin phrase , " ANNUIT COEPTIS ," meaning "He (God) favors our undertaking." At the bottom of the seal is a semicircular banner proclaiming " NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM " meaning "New Order of the Ages," which is a reference to the new American era. To the left of this seal, a string of 13 pearls extends toward the edge of the bill.
This appears to be accurate. The unfinished state of the pyramid was intentional. Also, Charles Thompson, in his remarks to congress about the symbolism on the Great Seal, said the pyramid represented "Strength and Duration."
The reverse of the seal on the left features a barren landscape dominated by an unfinished pyramid of 13 steps, topped by the Eye of Providence within a triangle. At the base of the pyramid are engraved the Roman numerals MDCCLXXVI (1776), the date of American independence from Britain. At the top of the seal stands a Latin phrase , " ANNUIT COEPTIS ," meaning "He (God) favors our undertaking." At the bottom of the seal is a semicircular banner proclaiming " NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM " meaning "New Order of the Ages," which is a reference to the new American era. To the left of this seal, a string of 13 pearls extends toward the edge of the bill.
The Eye of Providence above the pyramid is similar to the ancient Egyptian Eye of Horus , a charm, relating to the Pagan /Egyptian sky-god Horus which symbolized that worshipers will be protected and given royal powers from Pagan deities . The Eye of Providence was also a common Christian emblem symbolizing the Trinity throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance Although Franklin's committee did not suggest a pyramid, it did originate the suggestion of the eye. The term "the all-seeing eye" is never used in describing it. The Franklin committee wanted the seal to include a reflection of divine providence and discussed a variety of themes including the Children of Israel in the Wilderness. Some have suggested that the pyramid and the eye are the result of Masonic influence, but the only member of the original committee who was a Mason was Franklin and this committee's design was rejected by congress. None of the final designers of the seal was a Mason. The eye as representing "the eye of providence" has a long history. It's more likely that both the designers of the Great Seal and the Masons both drew from that history. The use of "the all seeing eye" as uniquely Masonic first appeared in 1797, nearly 15 years after the adoption of the symbolism by Congress The "Eye of Providence" is a visual representation of the words Annuit Coeptis, and reinforces the founders' notion that God looked upon the endeavor of the new nation with favor. Many theorists mistakenly believe the symbolism of the eye is related to the Freemasons (a secret society whose members believed they were under the careful scrutiny of God), but the symbolism of the glowing eye is far older than any Freemason thinking. Scholars have traced versions of the symbol as far back as the ancient Egyptians.
The reverse side of the Great Seal was not designed with an anagram found by drawing a six-pointed star whose points touch letters in the mottoes to spell MASON , as shown in the above image from Dan Brown's novel, The Lost Symbol . First of all, the original Great Seal is a written description only – no artwork was submitted to nor approved by Congress in 1782. Also, drawing a star doesn't spell MASON on the reverse side's preliminary sketch (1782), its first realization (1786), or even on the government's Centennial Medal (1882). An anagram happens to work on the realization seen on the one-dollar bill, but this image dates only back to 1935 and is not the work of America's Founding Fathers.
The Great Seal, originally designed in 1782 and added to the dollar bill's design in 1935, is surrounded by an elaborate floral design. The renderings used were the typical official government versions used since the 1880s. The obverse of the seal on the right features a bald eagle , the national bird and symbol of the United States. Above the eagle is a radiant cluster of 13 stars arranged in a six-pointed star . The eagle's breast is covered by a heraldic shield with 13 stripes that resemble those on the American flag . As on the first US flag, the stars and stripes stand for the 13 original states of the union. The eagle holds a ribbon in its beak reading " E PLURIBUS UNUM ", a Latin phrase meaning "Out of many [states], one [nation]," a de facto motto of the United States (and the only one until 1956). In its left talons the eagle holds 13 arrows, and in its right talons it holds an olive branch with 13 leaves and 13 olives, representing, respectively, the powers of war and peace. To the right of this seal, a string of 13 pearls extends toward the edge of the bill. The official meaning is that the olive branch and the arrows "denote the power of peace & war." As noted above, the design has been with the eagle facing the arrows except for when President Harry Truman turned the face toward the olive branch on the Presidential Seal. The shield is unsupported which means that the us is self sufficient. Charles Thompson said it denoted that the United State of America ought to rely on their own virtue.
The idea of composite unity is exemplified in the Twelve Disciples surrounding Christ and the Twelve Tribes of Israel united in God. This is geometrically expressed in the hexagonal Star Number, commonly known as the Star of David, which appears in the constellation of 13 Stars above the eagle's head. It's not clear what the hexagram meant at the time of the American Revolution, so to attribute some intended national symbolism to it based on today's meaning is mere speculation. Because of its elegant geometry, the hexagram has been a popular symbol in many cultures from earliest times. It has a long and complex history, including use by Old Testament patriarchs. It's often referred to as the "Star of David" or "Solomon's Seal." The so called "Star of David" is a " hexagram" used in the occult . There is NO Biblical evidence that this pagan symbol has anything to do with king David of Israel. To learn more of the history of this symbol, please check out " Is the Star of David Pagan ?"
The word swastika came from the Sanskrit word svastika , meaning any lucky or auspicious object, and in particular a mark made on persons and things to denote good luck. It is composed of su - meaning "good, well" and asti "to be" svasti thus means "well-being." The suffix -ka either forms a diminutive or intensifies the verbal meaning, and svastika might thus be translated literally as "that which is associated with well-being," corresponding to "lucky charm" or "thing that is auspicious." the swastika was adopted as a symbol of the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (the Nazi Party ) in 1920. After Adolf Hitler ’s rise to power in 1933 the Swastika became a commonly used symbol of Nazi Germany ; in 1935 the Nazi Party Flag, which incorporated a Swastika, was made the sole State Flag of Germany. As a result in the western world the Swastika has been strongly associated with Nazism and related ideologies such as Fascism and White Supremacism since the 1930s. Its use is now largely stigmatized in the west; it has notably been outlawed in Germany if used as a symbol of Nazism. Many modern political extremists and Neo-Nazi groups such as Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging and Russian National Unity use stylised swastikas or similar symbols.