Diary of John Adams, volume 3

Monday July 1. 1776.

Monday July 15. 1776.

[July <unclear>4</unclear>. 1776.] JA

1776-07-04

[July [4]. 1776.] Adams, John
July 4. 1776.

July 4. 1776. Resolved that Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams and Mr. Jefferson be a Committee to prepare a device for a Seal for the United States of America.1

1.

This paragraph is interlined in the MS and mistakenly placed between the last two paragraphs of the entry dated 1 July. The editors have placed it where JA no doubt intended to put it. This committee reported on 20 Aug., but its report was tabled, and no device for a Great Seal of the United States was adopted until 1782. See the proposals and report of 1776 and a summary of later developments in Jefferson, Papers, ed. Boyd, 1:494–497; also JA to AA, 14 Aug. 1776 (Adams Papers; JA-AA, Familiar Letters , p. 211). In his abstract of Congress' proceedings on 20 Aug. JA overlooked the report of this committee.