US States

The Great Seal of the State of Illinois is the official emblem of the state, and signifies the official nature of a document produced by the state of Illinois. The flag of the state of Illinois consists of the seal of Illinois on a white background, with the word “Illinois” underneath the seal. The present seal was adopted in 1869, the flag bearing the central elements of the seal was adopted in 1915, and the word Illinois was added to the flag in 1970.
The current flag depicts the Great Seal of Illinois, which was originally designed in 1819 and emulated the Great Seal of the United States. In the eagle’s beak there is a banner with the state motto, “State Sovereignty, National Union.” The dates on the seal, 1818 and 1868, represent the year Illinois became a state and the year in which the Great Seal was redesigned.

In January 2001 then-Governor Ronnie Musgrove appointed an independent commission which developed a new proposed design. On April 17, 2001, a non-binding state referendum to change the flag was put before Mississippi voters. The proposal would have replaced the Confederate battle flag with a blue canton with 20 stars. The outer ring of 13 stars would represent the original Thirteen Colonies, the ring of six stars would represent the six nations that have had sovereignty over Mississippi Territory (various Native American nations as a collective nation, French Empire, Spanish Empire, Great Britain, the United States, and the Confederacy), and the inner and slightly larger star would represent Mississippi itself. The 20 stars would also represent Mississippi’s status as the 20th member of the United States. The referendum for a new flag was defeated in a vote of 64% to 36% and the 1894 flag was retained.

The flag consists of a gold torch that represents liberty and enlightenment; the rays around the torch represent their far-reaching influence. The nineteen stars represent Indiana’s place as the nineteenth state to join the United States. The thirteen stars in the outer loop symbolize the original Thirteen Colonies, the five inner stars represent the next five states added to the Union, and the one large star above the torch represents Indiana.

The flag of Louisiana consists of a “pelican in her piety,” the heraldic charge representing a mother pelican “in her nest feeding her young with her blood, on an azure field with the state motto reworded to “Union Justice Confidence.” This version of the flag was first adopted in 1912 and it was last modified in 2006.

The flag of the state of Tennessee consists of an emblem on a field of red, with a strip of blue on the fly. The emblem in the middle consists of three stars on a blue circle.
The three stars represent the three Grand Divisions of the state, East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tennessee. The blue circle around the stars represents the unity of the “Grand Divisions” of the state. The blue bar at the edge of the flag was just a design consideration. When asked about the blue bar, Reeves stated that “The final blue bar relieves the sameness of the crimson field and prevents the flag from showing too much crimson when hanging limp.”

The flag consists of the Commonwealth’s seal on a navy blue field, surrounded by the words “Commonwealth of Kentucky” above and sprigs of goldenrod, the state flower, below. The seal depicts a pioneer and a statesman embracing. Popular belief claims that the buckskin-clad man on the left is Daniel Boone, who was largely responsible for the exploration of Kentucky, and the man in the suit on the right is Henry Clay, Kentucky’s most famous statesman. However, the official explanation is that the men represent all frontiersmen and statesmen, rather than any specific persons. The state motto: “United We Stand, Divided We Fall” circles them. The motto comes from the lyrics of “The Liberty Song”, a patriotic song from the American Revolution.

Rhode Island’s tradition of independence and dissent gave it a prominent role in the American Revolution.  Rhode Island was the first of the thirteen colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown on May 4, 1776.  It was also the last of the thirteen colonies to ratify the United States Constitution on May 29, 1790, once assurances were made that a Bill of Rights would become part of the Constitution.

That the flag of North Carolina shall consist of a blue union, containing in the center thereof a white star with the letter “N” in gilt on the left and the letter “C” in gilt on the right of said star, the circle containing the same to be one-third the width of the union. The fly of the flag shall consist of two equally proportioned bars; the upper bar to be red, the lower bar to be white; that the length of the bars horizontally shall be equal to the perpendicular length of the union, and the total length of the flag shall be one-third more than its width. That above the star in the center of the union there shall be a gilt scroll in semi-circular form, containing in black letters this inscription “May 20th 1775,” and that below the star there shall be a similar scroll containing in black letters the inscription: “April 12th 1776”. It bears the dates of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence (May 20, 1775) and of the Halifax Resolves (April 12, 1776), documents that place North Carolina at the forefront of the American independence movement. Both dates also appear on the Great Seal of North Carolina.