Puzzle Description:

Jan 26, 1784: Ben Franklin's famous diatribe against the bald eagle, proposing the turkey as a better choice.

#1: Joe (infrapinklizzard) on Jan 26, 2013 [SPOILER]

In a letter to his daughter he wrote,

"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. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.
...
For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America... He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on."

For a bit more of the letter and the circumstances, see http://www.greatseal.com/symbols/turkey.html

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Interesting to solve, Thanks Joe.

See puzzles # 2822, 4108, 7213, 7226?, 10926, 11112, 13242, 16010, 18272, 20211, 20267, 20270, 20271, 20416, 20425, 20455?, 20489...

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ah....well, it's good you give exercises like you did though. helps people think and see things a lil differently.... can't believe this isn't getting rated better... it's fantastic!

Wow! What a solve. I think I developed a few new neurons doing this one. But I was able to do it without guessing or peeking for clues, so hurray for an excellent solve. :-)

Thanks for the link, Joe. That's really interesting. "Four kinds of birds were suggested in preliminary Great Seal designs: a two-headed eagle, a rooster, a dove, and a phoenix in flames."

Thanks, Teresa and Kurt (again)!

I was surprised at the circumstances of the letter. I remember being told that Ben had proposed the turkey as the national bird. That is a myth.

Through official channels, he'd only ever proposed a portrayal of Moses and Pharaoh for the Great Seal. Unofficially, he'd publicly endorsed the rattlesnake as a good symbol for the US's character. Not a bad choice, in my opinion, but spoiled for the general public by religious perceptions of snakes.

-=-=- If you flew through this puzzle, try my others! http://webpbn.com/find.cgi?search=1&author=infrapinklizzard&unqual=1&undiff=1 -=-=-

Found to be solvable with moderate lookahead by infrapinklizzard.

Seven years after the fact I found this among my saved puzzles. The solve was tough, with a fantastic image to make it well worth the challenge. Belated thanks, Joe!

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