birdsoup

We are in now in November which is considered Turkey Time.  But if things were different historically, July might be Turkey Time.

 On the afternoon of July 4, 1776, just after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress appointed a committee composed of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Ben Franklin to select a design for an official national seal.

Nations often use animals as symbols:  England has its lion, India its peacock.  Our three patriots had different ideas and none of them included the Bald Eagle.  They agreed on a drawing of lady Liberty holding a shield to represent the states.  Congress did not like the design. So they consult William Barton, a Philadelphia artist, who produced a new design that included a Golden Eagle.

 However, the Golden Eagle was already used by some European nations.  So Congress specified that the bird in the seal would be the Bald Eagle and, on June 20, 1782, they approved the design we recognize today.

 At the time, the new nation was still at war with England and the fierce-looking birds seemed an appropriate emblem.  But it was a controversial choice.  Franklin scowled at it.  “For my part” he declared, “I wish the eagle had not been chosen…. He is a bird of bad moral character, he does not get his living honestly.  You may have seen him perched in some dead tree where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing hawk (Osprey) and, when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish and is bearing it to his nest for his young ones, the eagle pursues him and takes the fish.  With all this injustice, he is never in good case.”

 Some people question whether the eagle would have been chosen to adorn the seal if the nation had not been at war.  Franklin argued that the Wild Turkey would have been a more appropriate symbol.  “A much more respectable bird and a true native of America” he pointed out.  He conceded that the turkey was “a little vain and silly” but maintained that is was nevertheless a “bird of courage” that “would not hesitate to attack any grenadier of the British guards who should presume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on.” 

 Congress was not convinced and the eagle remains the national symbol that is etched into our minds.  Can you imagine a turkey on our national seal?  Or turkey for your 4^th of July picnic?