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Crack open your wallet, pull out everyone’s favorite portrait of George Washington, and be prepared to learn about some odd symbolism that probably seemed perfectly normal in the 18th century. Here are the explanations behind some of the more baffling parts of our nation’s smallest bills.
What’s that weird pyramid drawing on the reverse of the bill?
The two circular drawings on the reverse of the bill are actually parts of the two-sided Great Seal of the United States. Although we don’t see the entire seal outside of our wallets too often, the notion of having a great seal is actually as old as the country itself. The Continental Congress passed a resolution on July 4, 1776, to create a committee to design a great seal for the fledgling nation, and heavy hitters John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson got the first crack at creating the seal.
Congress wasn’t so keen on the design these big names brought back, though, and it took nearly six years and several drafts to finally find a suitable seal. Congress finally approved of a design on June 20, 1782.
What’s the story behind the Great Seal of the United States?
According to the State Department, which has been the official trustee of the seal since 1789, both the obverse (front) and reverse (back) of the seal are rich with symbolism. The obverse picturing the eagle is a bit easier to explain. The bird holds 13 arrows to show the nation’s strength in war, but it also grasps an olive branch with 13 leaves and 13 olives that symbolize the importance of peace. (The recurring number 13, which also appears in the stripes on the eagle’s shield and the constellation of stars over its head, is a nod to the original 13 states.) The shield floats unsupported over the eagle as a reminder that Americans should rely on their own virtue and strength.
The symbolism of the pyramid on the seal’s reverse is trickier. The pyramid has 13 steps – the designers apparently never got tired of the 13 motif – and the Roman numeral for 1776 is emblazoned across the bottom. The all-seeing Eye of Providence at the top of the pyramid symbolizes the divine help the early Americans needed in establishing the new country. The pyramid itself symbolizes strength and durability.
The divine overtones don’t stop with the unblinking eye, though. The Latin motto Annuit Ceptis appears over the pyramid; it translates into “He [God] has favored our undertaking.” The scroll underneath the pyramid reads Novus Ordo Seclorum, or “A new order of the ages,” which was meant to signify the dawn of the new American era.
How did the seal end up on our dollar bill?
We can thank former Secretary of State Cordell Hull’s busy schedule for that one. Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace had to wait for a meeting with Hull in 1934 and decided to kill time by thumbing through a State Department pamphlet on the Great Seal. The pamphlet contained an illustration of the reverse side of the seal with the pyramid, and Wallace was quite taken with the drawing. He took the seal to President Franklin Roosevelt and suggested the country mint a coin using the two sides of the seal.
FDR liked the seal, too. (Roosevelt and Wallace were both Masons and loved the all-seeing eye part of the reverse design, which echoed the concept of the Great Architect of the Universe.) He thought the seal should be on the reverse of the dollar bill rather than a coin, but he was worried the mystical imagery would offend Catholics. After Postmaster General James Farley assured FDR he didn’t think his fellow Catholics would have any problem with the design, Roosevelt approved a new dollar bill design that first appeared in 1935.
Did the Founding Fathers swipe any ideas from a magazine?
Possibly. The familiar E Pluribus Unum motto that the eagle holds in its beak underscores the union and togetherness of the 13 colonies. It might also underscore early Americans’ love of periodicals.
According to the State Department, recent historical research has indicated that this Latin motto may have been borrowed from Gentlemen’s Magazine, a London publication that ran from 1732 to 1922.
The magazine was popular in the colonies, and its title page always carried the E Pluribus Unum motto.
Why don’t the dates on the front of the bills change that often?
At the lower right of the portrait on the bill’s obverse you’ll see the word “Series” and a year. You might notice that these don’t change each year the way the numbers on minted coins do. Why not?
According to the Treasury, the series date only changes when there’s a new design for a bill, a new Treasurer of the United States, or a new Secretary of the Treasury. (These are the two officials whose signatures appear on either side of the portrait.) The series year itself changes when the Secretary of the Treasury changes, while a change in the Treasurer of the United States means that the series year remains the same, but a suffix letter gets tacked onto the end of the year.
What are the various other numbers on the obverse of the bill?
The bill’s serial number is the most prominently displayed set of digits on the dollar, but they’re not alone. If you take out a dollar, you’ll notice there are four large numbers in the corners of the bill’s open space. Like the encircled letter to the left of Washington’s portrait, 
these numbers tell which Federal Reserve Bank issued the note. (Each Fed’s number corresponds the letter of the alphabet assigned to the bank, with A=1, B=2, and so on.)
The tiny letters and numbers that appear on the top left and bottom right of the bill’s obverse indicate the position of the note on the Treasury’s printing plates. If your dollar bill has a tiny “FW” before this code, those letters indicate that it was printed at the Treasury’s facility in Fort Worth, Texas, rather than in Washington, D.C.
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Comments (33)
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What about the little spider at the top right hand side of the front of the $1?
posted by Alecto on 8-18-2009 at 1:59 pm
A=1 and B=1? lol
posted by conanismyidol on 8-18-2009 at 2:10 pm
lol now its fixed…
posted by conanismyidol on 8-18-2009 at 2:11 pm
I never noticed the spider before. He’s kind of cute!
posted by Steven on 8-18-2009 at 2:12 pm
I just whipped this up on paint. SPIDER!
posted by Steven on 8-18-2009 at 2:26 pm
Wait a while and some conspiracy nut will show up to claim that the spider is a central symbol of Rosicrucian philosophy, or the mascot of the Illuminati, or a secret Freemason code, or some other such nonsense.
posted by Ryan on 8-18-2009 at 2:36 pm
I thought that was an owl.
posted by Stacy on 8-18-2009 at 2:41 pm
Well, the border is kind of webby-looking…that sure was a busy little spider!
posted by EL on 8-18-2009 at 2:53 pm
i cant see the spider :(
posted by Julian on 8-18-2009 at 3:14 pm
It’s not a spider it’s an owl. For wisdom, stupid.
posted by Joel on 8-18-2009 at 4:01 pm
Why the name calling Joel? It’s so small that it could be anything unless you have a magnifying glass to look at it.
I just like that if you fold the bill in a certain way GW turns into a mushroom. What is the symbolism in that, huh?
BTW my recaptcha is 100 1/2 mints…hmmm
posted by Bill on 8-18-2009 at 4:16 pm
@Joel
afer some research, I’ve learned that no one really knows what it is.
I figure it has the shape of a spider, with its abdomen and the “webbing” around the border. I can also see the owl’s head.
After closer inspection of the dollar…It’s neither. As you can see and as I just learned by this picture, copy/paste has been used for quite a while.
I’ll still think of it as a spider though. :)
posted by Steven on 8-18-2009 at 4:27 pm
definitely an owl
which has symbolism tooo
posted by mike on 8-18-2009 at 4:47 pm
Nice try on the “Symbolism and the $1 Bill but you missed it by a mile. If you want to know the true meaning of the Masonic Symbol I suggest you go to http://www.raidersnewsnetwork.com/ and read Tom Horn’s Apollyon Rising if you want to know the whole demonic truth behind the seal. By the way… it is an owl… check out the meaning of the owl by googling “The Bohemian Grove”.
posted by Steve on 8-18-2009 at 10:47 pm
Its a spider.
posted by Bob on 8-18-2009 at 11:50 pm
Let me guess Steve, he wants us send him money so he tell us the meaning behind the money and the evil! Nice!! But I am not buying it, either of it!
I too think of it as a spider, I personally have never seen any owls with four legs..Plus its common for artist to take some leave of the work and put in some whimsical item, like the statues in one famous building in NY, one is naked!
posted by Coop on 8-19-2009 at 12:24 am
That’s funny the interpretation I have is this…
if you can’t see the picture here’s the link…
posted by Vanessa on 8-19-2009 at 1:18 am
Symbolism and the $1 Bill
by Ethan Trex – August 18, 2009 – 1:46 PM
This information is in report are not correct at all this is a cover up about the seal on the dollar bills
The back of the $2 bill has an engraving of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In the image is a man who has dark skin and wearing a powdered wig while sitting at the table just to the left of the men standing in the center of the engraving. This dark skinned man is John Hanson in his position as president of the continental congress. In the original painting hanging in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, the dark skinned man does not appear!!!
A “Black” Man, A Moor, John Hanson
Was the First President of the United States! 1781-1782 A.D.??? George Washington was really the 8th President of the United States! George Washington was not the first President of the United States. In fact, the first President of the United States was one John Hanson. Don’t go checking the encyclopedia for this guy’s name – he is one of those great men that are lost to history. If you’re extremely lucky, you may actually find a brief mention of his name. The new country was actually formed on March 1, 1781 with the adoption of The Articles of Confederation. This document was actually proposed on June 11, 1776, but not agreed upon by Congress until November 15, 1777. Maryland refused to sign this document until Virginia and New York ceded their western lands (Maryland was afraid that these states would gain too much power in the new government from such large
amounts of land). Once the signing took place in 1781, a President was needed to run the country. John Hanson was chosen unanimously by Congress (which included George Washington). In fact, all the other potential candidates refused to run against him, as he was a major player in the revolution and an extremely influential member of Congress. As the first President, Hanson had quite the shoes to fill. No one had ever been President and the role was poorly defined. His actions in office would set precedent for all future Presidents. He took office just as the Revolutionary War ended. Almost immediately, the troops demanded to be paid. As would be expected after any long war, there were no funds to meet the salaries. As a result, the soldiers threatened to overthrow the new government and put Washington on the throne as a monarch. All the members of Congress ran for their lives, leaving Hanson as the only guy left running the government. He somehow managed to calm the troops down and hold the country together. If he had failed, the government would have fallen almost immediately and everyone would have been bowing to King Washington. In fact, Hanson sent 800 pounds of sterling silver by his brother Samuel Hanson to George Washington to provide the troops with shoes. Hanson, as President, ordered all foreign troops off American soil, as well as the removal of all foreign flags. This was quite the feat, considering the fact that so many European countries had a stake in the United States since the days following Columbus. Hanson established the Great Seal of the United States, which all Presidents have since been required to use on all official documents. President Hanson also established the first Treasury Department, the first Secretary of War, and the first Foreign Affairs Department. Lastly, he declared that the fourth Thursday of every November was to be Thanksgiving Day, which is still true today. The Articles of Confederation only allowed a President to serve a one year term during any three year period, so Hanson actually accomplished quite a bit in such little time. Six other presidents were elected after him – Elias Boudinot (1783), Thomas Mifflin (1784), Richard Henry Lee (1785), Nathan Gorman (1786), Arthur St. Clair (1787), and Cyrus Griffin (1788) – all prior to Washington taking office. So what happened? Why don’t we ever hear about the first seven Presidents of the United States? It’s quite simple – The Articles of Confederation didn’t work well. The individual states had too much power and nothing could be agreed upon. A new doctrine needed to be written – something we know as the Constitution. And that leads us to the end of our story. George Washington was definitely not the first President of the United States. He was the first President of the United States under the Constitution we follow today. And the first seven Presidents are forgotten in history
posted by paul on 8-19-2009 at 1:23 am
OKAY…. the link didn’t work nor did the picture.
Well, the better way to explain the picture I have interpreting the symbols is….
ANNUIT COEPTIS means “Announcing Conception”
“Illumined eye”… Great Architect “Lucifer”
NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM “Secular New Order”
13 Letters in motto “E PLURIBUS UNUM”…”One of many”
13 Illuminated Stars
13 Enlightened Colonies
13 Layers of Brick
- 13 Original Colonies
72 Bricks
- 72 Powers of the name of God in Quabbalah
MDCCLXXVI- 1776, the date the Illuminati formed… mDCcLXxVI=
13 Arrows
13 Leaves
13 Berries – Different powers possessed by the 13 colonies
Phoenix not an eagle rising from the ashes, or ignorant world
-9 tail feathers- 9 spheres risen through to return to heavenly state
posted by Vanessa on 8-19-2009 at 1:31 am
This site is not letting me post specific things, so I have to make it more understandable and readable because the site won’t let me post those three numbers in order…
mDCcLXxVI= 6 6 6
Put them together and what do you get?
posted by Vanessa on 8-19-2009 at 1:35 am
half these guys were freemasons but the eye over the pyramid is that crazy Illuminati crap,it was the fashion at the time to be into secret societies, watch national treasure, truth is always stranger than fiction!!!
posted by illusine on 8-19-2009 at 2:59 am
I love how this turned into a National Treasure movie in itself.
posted by Steven on 8-19-2009 at 9:37 am
Hey Paul…if these are ‘great men lost to history’ then how do you know about them?
posted by Penny on 8-19-2009 at 10:52 am
The Thirteen levels of the pyramid are also a representation of the 13 degress of masonry (york rite) as compared to the 33 degrees of the scottish rite.
They love the mystical satanic theme of commonly referred to “unlucky” number 13 so much thats when they had President Woodrow Wilson sign over our honest “gold & silver backed” money system to the currupt federal reserve bank run by the same evl group. 1913… look it up.
Then, in referrence to the 1933 degrees of the scottish rite they had the amercian gold purge of 33 when the fedreal reserve bank (which is no more federal then federal express)made the banks give up the last remaining bit of gold the country had robbing what little wealth the country had.
No the signs & the numerology are not coincidense or “conspiracy theory crap”
Thats an ignorant statement.
The 5 points of a pentagram or a star of david placed over the seal dont point to the 5 letters Mason by accident either….
posted by Ryan Andersen on 8-19-2009 at 11:33 am
speaking of copy/paste…
Paul, is this site where you retrieved that information?
http://www.ourstrangeworld.net/index.php/main/article/the_forgotten_american_presidents/
The first comment which reads:
The office of the President was created in the Constitution, so the idea that there was a President before the office even existed is ludicrous.
Hanson’s title was “President of the United States in Congress Assembledâ€, and he was not the first to hold it. He was elected by delegates of the Continental Congress, not by national election. He served under the Articles of Confederation, which was an entirely different (and failed) government than the one put in place by the Constitution in 1788.
So, no. He wasn’t the first President of the United States. He held an office which shared a similar title to the President of the United States.
makes more sense than the article.
posted by Steven on 8-19-2009 at 11:48 am
I have been aware of the controversy over the great seal for quite some time.
It always surprises me that everyone (including Ethan) assume the obverse is the side with the eagle. IT IS NOT!
The obverse is the pyramid side. Notice that the words “The Great Seal” appear under the pyramid side (obverse). Under the eagle side appear the words “Of The United States”(reverse). Where I grew up, we read left to right.
Be cool.
posted by Gene Byers on 8-19-2009 at 5:28 pm
Its an owl (on the front). The ‘founders’ of this country were Illuminists.
This article is pure deception.
posted by the Great Mystic on 8-20-2009 at 9:43 pm
The article is informative.
The comments are what is pure bullshït.
posted by Bill on 8-22-2009 at 6:06 pm
The comments have been very entertaining.
posted by Gina on 8-27-2009 at 11:19 am
i always thought it was an owl. . . but now i’m confused.
you forgot the camel. . .behind the pyramid
used to always trick my friends with that one when i was growing up
posted by robb on 9-8-2009 at 10:39 am
i always thought it was an owl. . .not i’m lost!
what about the camel. . . .behind the pyramid
roll/crash
posted by robb on 9-8-2009 at 10:40 am
Seriously guys, don’t be a bunch of kooks. I am a Freemason, and the stuff you hear is nonsense (although, keep spewing it. It helps membership (for those who know the right word)).
And by the way, all Freemasons know that the pyramid is thirteen steps (ie not completed) because America is a work in progress, just like that pyramid. Just wait until 2013. That’s when the Masonic fun really begins.
posted by Doug on 12-17-2009 at 12:44 am
Yes, it IS an owl. Some people have said this is linked to the same owl at Bohemian Grove and also the same owl that can be seen in Google Earth when you look at the street lines of Washington D.C. (look near the Washington Monument and Capitol Building and the streets form an owl sitting on top of a pyramid)
Is it all related? Who knows… but it is certainly interesting.
posted by Greg on 12-17-2009 at 1:28 am