American Heraldry

www.americanheraldry.org...

Many people will question “what is so special about American heraldry?” well the answer to that question lies within the principles of our Founding Fathers.

With the overall rejection of European, more specifically, British, culture and customs of hierarchy, authority, and labels many of our Founders were vehemently opposed to such ‘irrelevant’ badges such as the heraldry/coat of arms.

Forget not that President Thomas Jefferson wrote "a coat of arms may be purchased as cheap as any other coat?"

Yet that did not stop Thomas Jefferson from having his own Coat of Arms that he asked merchant friend Thomas Adams to search for while he was away in London, England. However some Founding Fathers were in no way ashamed of wearing such a badge of honor. President John Adams for example wore his with pride as did President George Washington.

NOTE: My avatar depicts the Coat of Arms of President George Washington and my custom title is the English version of the motto.

Giving this thread a bump

reply to post by Misoir

Historically, heraldry is a way of recognising leaders on the battlefield.
Military insignia would be the modern equivalent, especially if regiments have recognisable badges.

N.B. Strictly speaking, coats of arms belong to individuals, not to families. This is because you need to be able to tell at a glance whether the man bellowing orders at you is the great Baron himself or his idiot younger son.
So the companies marketing "family" coats of arms are doing so inaccurately. They're not like Scottish clan tartans.

I have a great dislike for personal coats of arms... yet more fake scams for one human to pretend to better than another, and am rather surprised to see it in America..