Novus Ordo Seclorum
The phrase ''Novus ōrdō sēclōrum'' (, ; "New order of the ages") is the second of two mottos added by the secretary of the Congress of the Confederation, Charles Thomson, on the reverse (the back side) of the Great Seal of the United States (the first motto is '' Annuit cœptis''). Origin and phrase meaning The phrase is a reference to the fourth ''Eclogue'' of Virgil, which contains a passage (lines 5-8) that reads: The forms ''saecla'', ''saeclorum'' etc. were normal alternatives to the more common ''saecula'' etc. throughout the history of Latin poetry and prose. The form ''saeculorum'' is impossible in hexameter verse: the ''ae'' and ''o'' are long, the ''u'' short by position. The word ''seclorum'' does not mean "secular", but is the genitive (possessive) plural form of the word ''saeculum'', meaning (in this context) generation, century, or age. ''Saeculum'' did come to mean "age, world" in late, Christian Latin, and "secular" is derived from it, through ''secu ...
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Congress Of The Confederation
The Congress of the Confederation, or the Confederation Congress, formally referred to as the United States in Congress Assembled, was the governing body of the United States of America during the Confederation period, March 1, 1781 – March 4, 1789. A unicameral body with legislative and executive function, it was composed of delegates appointed by the legislatures of the several states. Each state delegation had one vote. It was preceded by the Second Continental Congress (1775–1781) and was created by the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union in 1781. The Congress continued to refer itself as the Continental Congress throughout its eight-year history, although modern historians separate it from the two earlier congresses, which operated under slightly different rules and procedures until the later part of American Revolutionary War. The membership of the Second Continental Congress automatically carried over to the Congress of the Confederation when the latte ...
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