Editing Bald eagle (section)

===National symbol of the United States===
{{Further|Great Seal of the United States#Obverse}}
[[File:Seal of the President of the United States.svg|thumb|upright|[[Seal of the president of the United States]]]]
The bald eagle is the national symbol of the United States.<ref name=j23/> It was adopted as a national emblem in 1782, but not designated the "national bird" until an [[act of Congress]] in December 2024.<ref>{{cite web |last=Koch |first=Alexandra |title=It's official: Biden signs new law, designates bald eagle as 'national bird' |publisher=FOX 13 Seattle |date=December 25, 2024 |url=https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/its-official-biden-signs-new-law-designates-bald-eagle-national-bird |access-date=December 25, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Halpert |first=Madeline |title=Bald eagle officially declared US national bird after 250 years |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23vzkdek4po |access-date=December 26, 2024 |website=[[BBC News]] |language=en-GB}}</ref>

The founders of the United States were fond of comparing their new republic with the [[Roman Republic]], in which eagle imagery (usually involving the [[golden eagle]]) was prominent. On June 20, 1782, the [[Continental Congress]] adopted the design for the [[Great Seal of the United States]], depicting a bald eagle grasping 13 [[arrow]]s and an [[olive branch]] with thirteen leaves with its talons.<ref name="seal"/><ref name="seal2"/><ref name="seal3"/>

The bald eagle appears on most official seals of the U.S. government, including the [[Seal of the president of the United States|presidential seal]], the [[Flag of the President of the United States|presidential flag]], and in the logos of many U.S. federal agencies. Between 1916 and 1945, the presidential flag (but not the seal) showed an eagle facing to its left (the viewer's right), which gave rise to the [[urban legend]] that the flag is changed to have the eagle face towards the olive branch in peace, and towards the arrows in wartime.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.snopes.com/history/american/turnhead.htm |title=A Turn of the Head |access-date=August 19, 2007 |author1=Mikkelson, Barbara |author2=Mikkelson, David P |date=November 5, 2001 |name-list-style=amp |publisher=snopes.com}}</ref>

Contrary to popular legend, there is no evidence that [[Benjamin Franklin]] ever publicly supported the [[wild turkey]] (''Meleagris gallopavo''), rather than the bald eagle, as a symbol of the United States. However, in a letter written to his daughter in 1784 from Paris, criticizing the [[Society of the Cincinnati]], he stated his personal distaste for the bald eagle's behavior. In the letter Franklin states:<ref name= Cornell1>{{cite web |url=http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/bald_eagle/lifehistory |title=Bald Eagle, Life History, All About Birds – Cornell Lab of Ornithology |website=AllAboutBirds.org |access-date=August 22, 2012}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|For my own part. I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen the representative of our country. He is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his living honestly&nbsp;... besides he is a rank coward: The little [[Eastern kingbird|king bird]] not bigger than a sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district.}}

Franklin opposed the creation of the Society because he viewed it, with its hereditary membership, as a [[order (honour)|noble order]] unwelcome in the newly independent Republic, contrary to the ideals of [[Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus]], for whom the Society was named.  His reference to the two kinds of birds is interpreted as a satirical comparison between the Society of the Cincinnati and Cincinnatus.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://americanheraldry.org/pages/index.php?n=MMM.Turkey |title=American Heraldry Society &#124; MMM / The Arms of the United States: Benjamin Franklin and the Turkey |publisher=Americanheraldry.org |date=May 18, 2007 |access-date=March 20, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427082418/http://www.americanheraldry.org/pages/index.php?n=MMM.Turkey |archive-date=April 27, 2014}}</ref>