What does the olive branch represent?

The olive branch on the Great Seal of the United States represents peace. It is held in the eagle's right talon (the position of honor in heraldry) and consists of 13 olives and 13 leaves, the number 13 honoring the original colonies. The olive branch is one of the oldest peace symbols in Western culture, dating to ancient Greek mythology (where Athena gave Athens an olive tree as her gift in her contest with Poseidon for the patronage of the city), to the Hebrew Bible (where a dove returns to Noah's ark with an olive leaf signaling that the floodwaters had receded, in Genesis 8:11), and to ancient Roman practice (where an olive branch was carried by ambassadors as a sign of peaceful intent).

The olive branch was deliberately chosen by the Great Seal's designers, especially Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress, who finalized the design in 1782. By placing the olive branch in the eagle's right talon and the cluster of 13 arrows in its left, the designers signaled that the new United States preferred peace but was prepared to defend itself, and that peace was the position of honor. The eagle's head is turned toward the olive branch, reinforcing the country's stated preference.

The pairing reflects a long-standing classical idea, restated in the Constitution's purpose to insure domestic Tranquility and provide for the common defence (Preamble) and in the constitutional power of Congress to declare war (Article I, section 8) alongside the President's power to make treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate (Article II, section 2). The olive branch and arrows together echo earlier American imagery: in 1775, the Second Continental Congress sent King George III the Olive Branch Petition (drafted by John Dickinson and adopted on July 5, 1775) as a final attempt to avert war while colonial militia were already fighting British troops in Massachusetts; the king refused to receive it.

The olive branch motif also appears on the Presidential Seal, on many U.S. coins (notably the older Walking Liberty half dollar designed by Adolph Weinman in 1916), on the seals of the State and Defense Departments, on military unit colors, and on the back of the dollar bill, which reproduces the obverse of the Great Seal.