E Pluribus Unum

In 2027 the U.S. Postal Service celebrates our shared identity as expressed in the country’s original motto, E Pluribus Unum, or “Out of many, one.” E Pluribus Unum served as the nation’s de facto motto until 1956 when, at the height of the Cold War, Congress adopted “In God We Trust” as our official national motto. Yet, E Pluribus Unum retains its significance, calling for unity and reminding us of the ideals that hold us together.

When it was incorporated into the Great Seal of the United States in 1782, the phrase recognized our status as the union of many states but over time has taken on additional meaning: It also honors the U.S. as a nation of people from many backgrounds. It remains one of the oldest and most enduring expressions of the American idea.

On July 4, 1776, the same day the Declaration of Independence was signed, the Continental Congress appointed a committee to design a Great Seal. This was an important task. Seals had been used since ancient times, and each English monarch since the 11th century had wielded a “Great Seal” to authenticate documents. This new nation should have a Great Seal as well.

John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson — all signers of the Declaration — were chosen for the committee. They soon discovered that translating the ideals of the new country into a graphic design was not an easy task. The proposal they submitted on August 20, 1776, included the Latin words E Pluribus Unum.

The three men are believed to have borrowed the phrase from what now sounds like an unlikely source: a monthly called The Gentlemen’s Magazine. Published in London and popular in the Colonies, this periodical reproduced the words E Pluribus Unum on the title page of every issue to recognize that the contents had been pulled from diverse sources.

Unfortunately the Continental Congress tabled the committee’s proposal, and it took two more committees and three more proposals before Congress finally approved a design, in 1782. The one element it retained from the original proposal was the phrase E Pluribus Unum. The seal was used for the first time on September 16, 1782, to authenticate a document that authorized General George Washington to negotiate with the British over prisoners of war.

Just as our forefathers faced a challenge in conveying the American idea on the Great Seal, art director Antonio Alcalá had to figure out how to represent the motto on a stamp. He started with some sketching and also looked at national symbols to apply the idea of many things producing the whole. He tried out an eagle, but it just didn’t work the way he’d imagined. That is when he shifted to the Statue of Liberty as a national symbol that engenders positive feelings in most people.

As the final step, Alcalá created a pointillistic-style digital illustration formed by various-sized red and blue dots against a white background. The image — literally, out of many, one — “shows that a variety of individuals can come together to form a more significant whole,” Alcalá notes. In this case, the dots representing individuals form Lady Liberty, an important national symbol. “Hopefully, by uniting through our commonalities, we can make our country even better,” he adds.

Alcalá chose red, white, and blue because these colors are associated with the American flag. In addition, for the illustration to work and the image of the Statue of Liberty to show up clearly, the colors needed to be the same or very similar intensity. Although red and blue are frequently used these days to symbolize divisions in the country, as Alcalá observes, “the illustration suggests that, in spite of our differences, we can unify.”

The E Pluribus Unum stamp is being issued as a Forever® stamp. This Forever stamp will always be equal to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.