Four score and 158 Thanksgivings ago, the bald eagle became the national symbol for a young country when it landed on the Great Seal of the United States. And just two years later, founding father Benjamin Franklin questioned the decision — in a 1784 letter to his daughter, which is now preserved in the National Archives. He said the turkey would have made a better choice.
“For my own part, I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country,” Franklin wrote. “He is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his living honestly.” Franklin goes so far as to call the bald eagle a “rank coward,” offering examples to support his case. To be clear, the letter was written after the national decision and we have no record of Franklin making an official proposal for the turkey as the U.S. symbol and national bird. But it's still fun to consider his concerns, which largely hold up to science.
