Great Seal > Peace > Temple of Peace
Sacred to Liberty Justice and Peace
This was a frontispiece of The Columbian Magazine, or Monthly Miscellany published in America in 1788.
Concord, the Goddess of Harmony and Peace, approaches a temple with 13 pillars and the inscription "Sacred to Liberty Justice and Peace." On the pediment is America's Great Seal with "E Pluribus Unum" written on a long ribbon carried in the Eagle's beak.
Atop the temple are three statues:
Liberty with a staff and liberty cap
Justice with scales
Peace with a palm
Clio, the patroness of history, kneels beside Concord to inscribe the message delivered to her by Cupid who holds a copy of the Constitution. A poem describes the scene:
"Behold! a Fabric now to Freedom rear'd,
Approv'd by friends, and ev'n by Foes rever'd,
Where Justice, too, and Peace, by us ador'd,
Shall heal each Wrong, and keep ensheath'd the sword
Approach then, Concord, fair Columbia's Son;
And, faithful Clio write that 'WE ARE ONE'."
Today, this vision is reflected in the movement to establish a Department of Peace.
See other allegorical drawings of America
published by The Columbian Magazine.
Liberty and the Great Seal