When it first appeared in a literary magazine in the
1770s, the motto was accompanied by a drawing of a hand holding a bouquet of
varied flowers, suggesting that unity and individuality can co-exist – a very
different metaphor from a “melting pot” where the individual parts eventually
become indistinguishable from one another. The motto as included on
the national seal came to refer to the union between the states and the federal
government, but in early drawings of the seal, it evoked as well the six
European nations that had settled North America: the rose (England), thistle
(Scotland), harp (Ireland), fleur-de-lis (France), lion (Holland), an imperial
eagle (Germany).
The motto describes an action: many uniting as one.
Unity is an action, a power of the soul and the spirit. It requires
individuals to stand up as individuals, and the whole to embrace them. It
is a call to action at the foundation of our republic. It is the cause of
our liberty and our freedom and it requires courage, tolerance, care,
responsibility, respect and knowledge.
After the Revolutionary War, women began to sew quilts
with patriotic themes. Pieced or appliquéd quilts (also known as
patchwork quilts) featuring the American Flag, the Liberty Bell, and the
American eagle became especially popular in times of national emergency or
celebration, such as the Civil War or the Bicentennial. In these
patchwork quilts, hundreds of small pieces in varied shapes, sizes, colors and
patterns were sewn together to form a large and useful covering, but the beauty
of the quilt is the unity created by the composition of the many patches, and
the strength is its firm backing, its strong binding and thread.
