Why is the bald eagle important?

The bald eagle is important because it symbolizes strength and freedom, two qualities the Founders associated with the new American republic and the qualities the United States projects in its public symbols. The bird carries those associations both because of its physical characteristics (large size, six- to eight-foot wingspan, powerful talons, soaring flight, sharp eyesight, and the ability to live and hunt in remote wilderness) and because of its history as an exclusively North American species native to the continent on which the new nation was forming.

The Continental Congress placed the bald eagle at the center of the Great Seal on June 20, 1782, after a design process led by Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress, drawing on ideas submitted by William Barton. On the Seal, the eagle holds an olive branch with 13 olives and 13 leaves in its right talon and 13 arrows in its left talon, signaling that the country prefers peace but is prepared for war. The eagle's head is turned toward the olive branch, signifying preference for peace. A shield with 13 vertical stripes covers the eagle's chest, representing the original states united under the federal chief (the blue band at the top), and a banner in the eagle's beak carries the motto E Pluribus Unum, meaning Out of many, one. Above the eagle's head a crest of clouds parts to reveal a glory of 13 stars on a blue field, representing the new constellation of states.

The bald eagle therefore appears not only as a national symbol but as the integrating motif of the entire Seal, and it has been carried over to the Presidential Seal, the seals of the executive departments, the reverse of the dollar bill, the quarter, and many other coins, military unit insignia, and patriotic art.

Beyond strength and freedom, the bald eagle also represents resilience: the species nearly went extinct in the lower 48 states by 1963 due to DDT-related egg failures, was protected under federal law, and has since recovered to over 71,000 nesting pairs by the 2020s, a conservation success often cited in school civics curricula. The bald eagle is also a sacred bird in many Native American traditions, including those of the Lakota, Navajo, Cherokee, and Pawnee, and federal law (the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, 16 U.S.C. section 668a) provides for the use of eagle feathers and parts by enrolled members of federally recognized tribes in religious and cultural ceremonies.