On July 4, 1776, just hours after declaring independence from Great Britain, the Continental Congress turned its attention to another important task: designing an official seal for the new nation.
A committee was appointed to come up with a suitable emblem. Its three members were Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, some of the most prominent figures in the American Revolution.
Franklin wanted the seal to depict Moses standing at the Red Sea, raising his staff as the waters parted and Pharaoh’s army was swallowed by the waves.
Jefferson suggested an image of the Israelites wandering through the wilderness, guided by a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night.
Think about that – at the very moment America was breaking free of British rule, two of its leading revolutionaries looked back more than 3,000 years to the Biblical Exodus for inspiration.
