Signing the Declaration of Independence, 1776
Franklin's proposed Great Seal design, 1776
Moses & the First Seal
By 1776 before the Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia, "comparisons with Exodus filled the air," notes Feiler. On July 4, immediately after the Declaration of Independence was officially passed, the Continental Congress asked John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin to design a seal that would clearly represent a symbol for the new United States.
Both Franklin and Jefferson turned to the Exodus. (Feiler, 35) Franklin proposed Moses parting the Red Sea, while Jefferson's design depicted "the Children of Israel in the wilderness, led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night." (Meacham, 81)
Leading up to independence there was a multitude of politicians and leading clergymen who described the colonists as equivalent to the Israelites fleeing Egypt. Thomas Paine, in his well-known book Common Sense, also cited Gideon, Samuel, and David, to support his argument against monarchies, and referred to King George III as a "Pharaoh of England." (Feiler, 60)
Comparisons with Exodus filled the air. The Founders were in dialogue with Moses as they drafted the nation's founding documents.
Bruce Feiler — America's Prophet (2009)Franklin, Jefferson & the Red Sea
Franklin's proposal was the most vivid. He described a scene in which Moses stands on the shore of the Red Sea, stretching out his hand as the waters close over Pharaoh's army, with rays from a pillar of fire reaching down to Moses to show that he acted by divine command. Beneath it Franklin placed a motto that captured the spirit of the Revolution:
Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.
Benjamin Franklin — Proposed motto for the Great Seal, 1776Jefferson recommended Franklin's scene for the reverse of the seal, and the committee's report of August 20, 1776, included it. Congress, however, tabled the report. Two further committees took up the task, and the Great Seal finally adopted in 1782 used the familiar eagle and pyramid instead. (Patterson and Dougall)
The Exodus imagery did not disappear. Jefferson adopted Franklin's motto for his own personal seal, and the picture of Americans as a people delivered from a tyrant, like Israel from Pharaoh, remained a fixture of Revolutionary sermons and pamphlets.
Moses — Gustave Doré