Ben Franklin thought the bald eagle had "bad moral character."

Famous Figures

T he majestic bald eagle has been a symbol of the U.S. for as long as the country has existed; the imposing raptor first appeared on Massachusetts currency back in 1776. Yet not all Americans were fans of the bird of prey. In fact, arguably the most famous celebrity of the colonial era, Benjamin Franklin, was quite the opposite. In a letter addressed to his daughter and dated January 26, 1784, Franklin referred to the bald eagle as a "Bird of bad moral Character," who "does not get his living honestly." Philadelphia's favorite son much preferred North America's other avian native — the wild turkey — whom he called a "Bird of Courage."

So why the anti-eagle sentiment? While it's true that eagles do steal food from other birds, it's likely a myth that Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird. Rather, the founding father's words were actually maligning a particular institution that used the eagle on its seal. The Society of the Cincinnati, which formed in 1783 (and eventually supplied the name for the U.S. city), was a hereditary patriotic organization, meaning only sons of officers in the American Revolution could enter its ranks. According to Franklin, an organization based on family or heritage was uncomfortably similar to Britain's status-driven culture, to which he believed American ideals were diametrically opposed.

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By the Numbers

Maximum weight (in pounds) of male turkeys

Nesting pairs of bald eagles in the U.S. in 1963 (up to 71,400 in 2019)

417

Did you know?

Turkey (the bird and the country) is named for the Turkish people.

The wild turkey comes from North America, but the bird is actually named after the Turkish people of Eurasia. In the 15th century, Turkish merchants from Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) imported an East African bird called the Guinea fowl — which resembles North America's wild turkey — into England, where it was dubbed a "turkey-coq" or "turkey" after the Ottoman Turks. When English settlers arrived in the New World in the 17th century and crossed paths with the similar-looking North American fowl, they simply gave the bird the same name. In 1922, when the Ottoman Empire dissolved, the new nation of Turkey was established, and found itself sharing a name with a bird that is not even native to Turkey.