today we're looking at why is the eagle the symbol of America
[Music] hello welcome to the Daily bellringer please don't forget to subscribe and take a look
at the questions down in the description also don't forget to check out dailymailringer.com
where you'll find more resources that go with many of the bellringer videos our power
of perseverance is as that of an eagle we soar above our Challengers as quoted by author Ellen
barrier when describing the human Spirit the eagle has long been a symbol of strength and
tenacity throughout history going all the way back to Antiquity when Roman Legions carried
symbols of the eagle into battle but how did the eagle become the symbol of the United States of
America to answer that question we have to look back at the founding of the nation in July of
1776 as America declared its independence from Great Britain shortly after the Declaration of
Independence had been written and approved by the Continental Congress it was decided that the
new nation needed a seal a seal is a symbol of a country state or even family going all
the way back to 5000 BC the ancient Mesopotamians developed seals to basically authenticate messages
that were being sent or in other words as a symbol of proof that something was official throughout
history people have affixed seals to letters and documents to indicate that they are valid today
you may recognize government officials such as the President of the United States usually speaking
with a presidential seal in front or behind him the Continental Congress appointed three different
committees to develop a design for a seal for the new nation one of these committees included Thomas
Jefferson John Adams and Benjamin Franklin one of the Committees also included a Pennsylvania lawyer
named William Barton Barton's design included a white eagle prominently centered in the seal
Congress however approved none of the designs submitted by the Committees after the American
Revolution had come to an end and the new nation was going about the business of governing itself
again the topic of a seal came before Congress in mid-1782 the secretary of the Congress at
the time Charles Thompson took the three designs that had been developed a few years earlier and
decided to take the best elements from each to create a seal Thompson very much liked the eagle
featured in Barton's design however he felt a bald eagle would look much better than a white eagle
Thompson submitted his proposed design to Congress and on June 20th of 1782 it was approved as the
national seal the design had a lot of symbolism in it including the Latin phrase e pluribus unum
which is Latin for out of many one referring to our Republic in which we elect representatives
to the government furthermore the eagle clutches an olive branch with 13 leaves in its right Talon
and 13 arrows in its left Talon representing peace and War the number 13 of course represents
the original 13 colonies and additionally the Eagle's head is turned towards the Olive Branch to
symbolize the preference for peace interestingly Benjamin Franklin was not a big fan of the eagle
being on the seal Franklin wrote a letter to his daughter describing the Eagle's tendency
to scavenge for food saying quote the bald eagle is a bird of bad moral character he does not get
his living honestly he is too lazy to fish for himself Franklin went on to describe the eagle
on the seal as looking more like a turkey hence we have the untrue legend that Franklin proposed the
turkey as the nation's symbol but nonetheless since the late 1700s the eagle has established
itself as a symbol of America the bald eagle is truly a unique and fascinating creature they are
only native to North America being found only in Canada the United States and Northern parts of
Mexico a male bald eagle can have a wingspan of up to six and a half feet but the female bald eagle
is even larger with a wingspan close to eight feet when a bald eagle is born it is completely brown
in color they do not develop the iconic white feathers on their head until they are about four
or five years old additionally bald eagles have a long lifespan living been on average from 25 to
40 years old and what is even more remarkable is that bald eagles mate for life with only one other
Eagle so in other words once they choose a mate they will grow old together throughout the late
1800s and early 1900s the number of bald eagles in America began to dwindle due to the destruction of
their native habitats in 1940 Congress passed the bald eagle protection act making it illegal
to own or kill a bald eagle unfortunately their numbers continued to fall in 1963 it is estimated
that there were only about 400 nesting pairs of bald eagles in the United States and in
1978 they were put on the endangered species list fortunately though through the efforts of
protection groups and federal regulations the numbers grew in 2007 the bald eagle was removed
from the endangered species list and today it's estimated that there are over 70 000 nesting pairs
of bald eagles in America so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
hey quick shout out to Mr Vance's class at Bowden High School in Bowden Georgia thanks for watching