At the obverse of the Seal the main design has a white head eagle, wich holds an olive branch in a claw symbolizing the peace, and in the other claw it has 14 arrows, one for each original state. In the eagle´s cheast there is a coat of arms with red and white stripes and in the beak there is a ribbon with the latin inscription: ¨E pluribus unum¨, wich means ¨From many, one¨. Over its head there is a constelation with 13 stars. On the reverse, there is an unended pyramid, wich means the everlasting strength. The Secretary of State, who is the highest ranking member of the cabinet , has in custody this coat of arms or seal, wich, by law, must appear in all important documents. A replic of the seal appears over the doors of all the embassys and consulates in United States. The representation of both sides can only be found at the reverse of one dolar bills. After the sign of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were chosen by the Congress delegates to find an adequate design. Three comissions worked during six years, submitting biblical topics and versions of heraldic coat of arms from the Old World, before the Congress aprobed, on june, 20, 1782, a final design. On september,15, 1789 a resolution from the Congress proclaimed that the 1782 version would be the "Seal of United States". Historians have documented an apart of the Great Seal history. Benjamin Franklin was vigorously oposed to the use of the white head eagle, proposing instead a wild turkey. In an energy letter sent to his daughter, severitly criticized the "wrong moral character" of the eagle, adding that : "It doesn´t live honestly; we can see it on a dead tree, where, by idleness it doesn´t fish by itself but remains watching the work of the fisher falcon; when that diligent bird finally captures a fish and takes it to its nest to feed its female and críos, the eagle pursues it and snatches away the fish from the falcon". Franklin lost the battle; the eagle won. Seven troqueles were made in total. The first one, of bronze, is in exhibition at the Washington Record Office, D.C. The seventh, in use at present, was build from hard steel and was print by Bailey´s firm, Banks and Biddle of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 1904.
The Star-Spangled Banner, the national anthem of United States, is recognize in the whole world. It was born in the early hours of september, 14 of 1814, after a 25 hours bombing to fort McHenry, a military place at the gates of Baltimore port, in the atlantic coast.
The Statue of Liberty. It was created in the studio of French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. This statue cast in bronze stands for a woman dressed in a full-length loose tog and juts out majestically over a tiny islet at the entrace of the New York City port as if trying to welcome visitors and vessels docking in. She holds a torch aiming at the sky in the right hand, while the left hand grabs a plank reading “4th of July, 1776,” U.S. Independence Day. This statue –the complete name of the work is Liberty Lighting Up The World, was presented to the United States by France and symbolizes how much both countries love democracy. A smaller 36-foot-high version (11 meters) and likewise cast in bronze, is located in one the bridges over the Seine River in France. The Statue of Liberty is the biggest statue ever built. This massive 240,000-kg structure is 46 meters high and rests atop a 45,7-meter-high pedestal. The woman’s head sports a seven-tine crown representing the seven continents. Uncle Sam. Some 75 years older that Libby (the Statue of Liberty), this bearded, long-legged man is dressed in the national colors, shaping the American Flag, and wears a top hat. Uncle Sam personifies the United States as newspaper headlines around the globe so prove it. During World War II, Uncle Sam was frequently drawn with his sleeves rolled up and working in a factory. When the Republican Party wins presidential elections, he’s pictured riding atop an elephant, and when Democrats are the winners, then he rides a donkey. When belt-tightening hardships came, he was painted wearing ragged pants and a patchwork for a jacket. Uncle Sam’s most famous poster was used in a longstanding Army ad –painted by well-known cartoonist James Montgomery in 1917 to recruit young servicemen. This particular piece of advertisement shows Uncle Sam with a frowned face, his lips tight and pointing his index finger to the observer. Uncle Sam wasn’t a made-up character as many people think. He was, indeed, a real man. According to historical accounts, Uncle Sam was a meat vendor called Samuel Wilson, who had been born in 1766 and had fought in the Independence War when he was in his teens. When the war was over, Sam Wilson was known across the country as Uncle Sam, the personification of the ordinary American. A century and a half later, Sam Wilson was officially recognized by the U.S. government as Uncle Sam’s prototype. In 1961, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution to name Uncle Sam a U.S. national symbol. Columbia This is the female version of Uncle Sam, as tall as him but more real-life looking, serious and dignified. She’s generally depicted as a well-shaped woman wearing a long white tog and sort of a Phrygian cap decked out with five stars. She’s sometimes wearing a U.S. flag. As an American symbol, Columbia is some decades older than Uncle Sam, and unlike him, never was a real-life woman but rather the creation of a group of artists that through the years has presented her as the incarnation of the Americans’ strong, resolute, patriotic and firm character. Columbia was named after a man who had been born in Italy and who made history under the Spanish royal patronage. Among the very first personalities who first used the name Columbia to refer to the independent America was Philip Morin Freneau, labeled as the Poet of the American Revolution. Yankee Doodle. The origin of the word Yankee and Yankee Doodle as national symbols hark back into the some times blurred realm of history. Some scholars are inclined to believe that the word Yankee stems from Dutch word yanke, clipped form for Johnny. Others say American Indians used to mispronounce the French word anglais meaning English. As a result of this, the word Yankee came into being. Before the Independence War, British soldiers used to refer to settlers in a disparaging way and they nicknamed them Yankees. But the Americans, far from being offended, liked the moniker. During World War I and World War II, American troops were known as Yanks or Yankees. The song Yankee Doodle was sung in England since the times of Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th Century. In the mid-1600s, troops led by King Charles I used to chant this tune disparagingly in reference to Oliver Cromwell, the rebel who commanded the Puritan Revolution that eventually toppled the monarchy. Seal of the United States of America. It features a white-capped eagle grabbing a twig of olive in one claw and 13 arrows in the other, one for each of the original 13 colonies. The eagle’s breast is covered with a shield crossed with red and white stripes, while the bird holds a ribbon with its beak that reads E pluribus unum, meaning “From many, one.” Over the eagle’s head there appears a 13-star constellation. On the seal’s flip side there’s an unfinished pyramid standing for an everlasting fortress. The U.S. Secretary of State, the highest-ranking administration official, keeps the seal under his custody that by law must be stamped on all official documents. A replica of the seal is hanged on the doors of all U.S. embassies and consulates overseas. The flip-flop representation of the seal is only seen on the one-dollar bills.
The Rose is the native flowwer of United States. The first fossil found is estimated to 40 millions years old, in the state of Colorado. It´s said that the first inmigrants who arrived to New York and California were the first one to cultivate this plant. On 1986, the President in charge Ronald Reagan designated constitutionally the Rose as the national emblem of the country.
The national bird of United States is the eagle,wich is called bold eagle in United States and wich, by the way, is not bold. White colored feathers cover the head of the adult specimens, wich makes them seem bold. The national slogan, printed in all the metallic coins and bank bills, is: "In Good We Trust". As this phrase, wich appears in the fourth stanza of the National anthem, has been printed in coins since 1861, it wasn`t until 1956 when the Congress passed a bill wich set it as the official national slogan. From the flag to the songs, from a huge statue of a bearded knight, the symbols graphically describe to its citizen and the whole world the soul of the United States.
Walt Whitman, the first in chronological order and the most important of the great poets from the people of United States, was born in West Hills, Long Island, on may, 31, 1819. He just took the primary education at Brooklyn school. However, he was received a solid educative formation based on an intimate and deep contact with nature, were he knew the greek clasics, Shakespeare, Dante, Cervantes, the Bible, any science book and the romantic british poets, and finally, and also due to his intense living in the city, in his "Mannhatta", and due to the terrible civil war of 1861, where he generously performed as voluntary nurse helping both sides without any difference. Walt Whitman had a lot of critics and detractors, wich was normal due to the unblemished conventionality and hypocritical formalism of his time couldn´t resist the vigorous chant to the sensuality, to the intenda joy of life, and to the freedom encarecida of Whitman´s poetry, who was also rejected for his anti-slavery ideas . He dies in Camden, New Jersey, on 1892.
Baseball is the National Sport of United States. This game is present in minor and mayor leagues as semiprofessional as professional and it´s extended in all the country in schools and universities. There are many versions related to its origins, but the way to play it and the rules have been quite different eversince, but the idea has always been pretty similar. There are also other sports in the country just as tennis, sail, boxing, swimming, fencing, gymnastics, volleyball, motoring, basketball, biking , athletics in all its kinds, among many other that in a general way, have many remarkable figures, medals and competitions awardwinners among the first places.
