Great Seal of the United States of America
The Great Seal of the US government
The design on the front of the seal is the coat of arms of the United States. The shield has two main differences from the American flag. First, it has no stars on the blue chief. Second, unlike the American flag, the outermost stripes are white. The supporter of the shield is a bald eagle with its wings outstretched. From the eagle's perspective, it holds a bundle of 13 arrows in its left talon, (referring to the 13 original states), and an olive branch in its right talon, together symbolizing that the United States has "a strong desire for peace, but will always be ready for war." The eagle has its head turned towards the olive branch, on its right side, said to symbolize a preference for peace. In its beak, the eagle clutches a scroll with the motto E pluribus unum ("Out of Many, One"). Over its head there appears a "glory" with 13 stars on a blue field. The 13 stars above the eagle are arranged in rows of 1-4-3-4-1, forming a six-pointed star.
Source
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"US-GreatSeal-Obverse."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US-GreatSeal-Obverse.svg
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