Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 December 1900 — The National Motto. [ARTICLE]

The National Motto.

Our national motto, “E Pluribua Unum,” was suggested to John Adams by an Englishman, SiE John Prestwick. Adams communicated the Idea to the Secretary of, th,e Congress, Charles Thompson, who, on June 20, 1782, reported to Congress his design for a government seal; in it the Latin legend was to be borne, on a ribbon held in the beak of an eagle. The motto was in use on the Gentleman’s Magazine from 1730, and that may have suggested it to Sir John Prestwick.