40 Fun Facts About State Mottos

Which state took its motto, Live Free or Die, from a toast written by General John Stark?

New Hampshire adopted the line in 1945 and later required it on license plates. Stark wrote the toast in 1809 because he was too ill to attend a reunion of his Revolutionary War comrades.

Which state's one-word motto, Eureka, celebrates a gold strike that set off a famous rush?

California has carried the word on its seal since 1849, the year after gold turned up near Sutter's Mill. It means I have found it, and it is the only state motto in Greek.

Which state's seal shows Virtue standing over a fallen tyrant above the motto Sic semper tyrannis?

Virginia adopted the Latin phrase, meaning thus always to tyrants, in 1776 on George Mason's recommendation. John Wilkes Booth later wrote that he shouted it after shooting Abraham Lincoln.

Which state's motto, North to the Future, beat 760 other entries in a public contest?

Alaska chose the phrase to mark the centennial of its purchase from Russia. The winning entry came from Juneau journalist Richard Peter, who collected a $300 prize.

Which state's one-word motto, Friendship, echoes the Caddo word that gave the state its name?

Texas adopted the motto in 1930. Tejas was the Spanish spelling of a Caddo word sometimes translated as friends or allies.

Utah's one-word motto, Industry, sits directly above which object on the state seal?

A beehive sits under the word on Utah's seal. Mormon pioneers called the territory they settled Deseret, which the Book of Mormon gives as an ancient word for honeybee.

Rhode Island's one-word motto, Hope, appears on the state seal above which nautical object?

An anchor has been Rhode Island's emblem since colonial days. The word above it probably echoes a verse in the Book of Hebrews that likens hope to an anchor for the soul.

Which state's motto, Equal Rights, honors its 1869 decision to let women vote?

Wyoming gave women the vote as a territory and kept the right when it became a state, the first to do so. The two words fly on a banner on its seal, and its nickname is the Equality State.

Which state shares its official motto, In God We Trust, with the United States as a whole?

Florida made the phrase its official motto in 2006. The words have ringed the state seal since 1868, long before Congress made them the national motto in 1956.

Which state's seal shows two men embracing above the motto United we stand, divided we fall?

Kentucky ordered a seal of two friends embracing in 1792, its first year as a state. Artists have since drawn the pair in buckskins and in tailcoats, hugging or simply shaking hands.

Which state's motto, Crossroads of America, also names a famous highway junction in Terre Haute?

Indiana made the phrase its official motto in 1937. In Terre Haute it marks the corner of Seventh and Wabash, where the old National Road met the highway from Chicago to Miami.

Which state's one-word motto, Forward, accompanies a badger on its coat of arms?

Wisconsin's arms also show a sailor and a miner holding the shield, standing for labor on water and on land.

Which state's coat of arms shows Liberty and Justice flanking a shield above the motto Excelsior?

New York adopted the arms in 1778. Excelsior is Latin for higher and is usually rendered as ever upward, and E pluribus unum joined it as a second motto in 2020.

Which state's seal sets the Latin motto Ad astra per aspera above a cluster of 34 stars?

Kansas was the 34th state, hence the stars. The motto, proposed by future US senator John James Ingalls, means to the stars through difficulties.

Which state's Spanish motto, Oro y plata, sits on its seal beneath a plow, a pick and a shovel?

Montana adopted the seal as a territory in 1865 and kept it at statehood. The words mean gold and silver, and the tools stand for its mining and farming industries.

Which state's French motto, L'Étoile du Nord, was chosen when it was the northernmost state?

Minnesota's first governor, Henry Sibley, picked the phrase, which means the star of the North. It remains the only state motto in French.

Which state's Latin motto tells anyone seeking a pleasant peninsula to look about them?

Michigan adopted the line in 1835. It is said to borrow from Sir Christopher Wren's memorial in St Paul's Cathedral, which tells visitors seeking his monument to look around.

Which state's motto, With God all things are possible, began with a schoolboy's petition drive?

Ohio was the only state without a motto when ten-year-old Jimmy Mastronardo of Cincinnati wrote to a newspaper in 1958. He gathered 18,000 signatures for his mother's favorite saying, unaware it came from the Bible.

Maryland's motto, taken from the Calvert family arms, is the only state motto in which language?

Italian, in an archaic form: the phrase reads literally as deeds are males, words are females. In 2017 Maryland changed its official translation to strong deeds, gentle words.

Hawaii's motto, as most often translated, says the life of the land is perpetuated in what?

Righteousness renders the Hawaiian word pono. The line was first spoken in 1843 on the day Britain handed back the islands' sovereignty after a brief takeover, and it became the state motto in 1959.

Which state's seal pairs the Latin motto Esse quam videri with the date May 20, 1775?

North Carolina adopted the phrase in 1893. It means to be rather than to seem, and it comes from a Roman essay on friendship.

Which state's Latin motto, Alis volat propriis, recalls an 1843 settlers' vote to govern themselves?

Oregon's motto means she flies with her own wings. It was replaced by The Union in 1957 and restored in 1987, and a 1999 bill to switch back again died on a 30-30 tie vote.

Which state's unofficial motto, Alki, is a Chinook Jargon word meaning by and by?

Washington is the only state whose motto has no official standing at all: it is neither set in law nor on the state seal. Alki comes from the old territorial seal, where a goddess pointed at the word.

Which state added a Latin motto in 2015 wishing that the fourteenth star may shine bright?

Vermont joined the Union as the fourteenth state in 1791, and the phrase first appeared on its copper coins in the 1780s. Its English motto, Freedom and Unity, dates from the same decade.

Which state's seal carries the motto Labor omnia vincit inside a star ringed by 45 smaller stars?

Oklahoma became the 46th state in 1907, hence the 45 smaller stars for those already in the Union. The motto means labor conquers all things and is adapted from Virgil's Georgics.

Which state's Latin motto says that it seeks peace by the sword, but only under liberty?

Massachusetts adopted the line in 1775, as the Revolution began. It comes from a verse by Algernon Sidney, an English opponent of Charles II who was later executed for treason.

Which state's official motto, Agriculture and Commerce, comes from words on its 1802 seal?

Tennessee made the pairing its official motto only in 1987. On the seal, a plow, wheat and cotton stand for farming, and a riverboat stands for trade.

Which state's seal shows three pillars bearing its motto, Wisdom, Justice, Moderation?

Georgia's pillars hold up an arch marked Constitution and stand for the legislative, judicial and executive branches. A soldier with a drawn sword stands guard beside them.

Maine's one-word Latin motto, Dirigo, sits beneath the North Star and translates as what?

I lead is the usual reading of Dirigo, which can also mean I direct. Maine once held its elections in September, so politicians watched its results for early signs of a national trend.

Missouri's motto, that the welfare of the people be the supreme law, comes from which Roman writer?

Cicero set down the maxim in De Legibus, his dialogue on the laws. Missouri carries the Latin original on its state seal, and the University of Missouri uses it too.

Which state fixed the grammar of its Latin motto in 1907, changing Regnant populi to Regnat populus?

Arkansas's motto means the people rule. The 1864 seal act had worded it in the plural, and a 1907 act corrected the Latin while giving the seal its present form.

Which state's motto, It grows as it goes, comes from a Roman poet's description of a thunderbolt?

New Mexico's Crescit eundo comes from Lucretius, who used it of a thunderbolt gaining strength as it crosses the sky. The motto's choosers took the image as a symbol of dynamic progress.

Connecticut's motto, He who transplanted still sustains, sits under which three plants on its seal?

Grapevines have marked the seal since the first one arrived from England in 1639. The three vines may stand for the early colonies of New Haven, Saybrook and Connecticut.

Puerto Rico's Latin motto, the oldest of any US state or territory, names which saint?

John the Baptist gave the island its first Spanish name, San Juan Bautista. The motto, a line from Luke's Gospel meaning John is his name, came with the arms the Spanish Crown granted in 1511.

North Dakota's motto, Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable, quotes which senator?

Daniel Webster ended his 1830 reply to Senator Robert Hayne with the line, rejecting the idea that a state could nullify federal law. It now rings North Dakota's seal.

Which state's seal carries the motto State Sovereignty, National Union with one word upside down?

Illinois Secretary of State Sharon Tyndale asked lawmakers to put National Union first. They refused, so his 1868 redesign twisted the banner and left Sovereignty upside down.

Louisiana's motto, Union, Justice, Confidence, rings which bird feeding her young on the seal?

A pelican tearing her own breast to feed her chicks has been Louisiana's emblem since statehood in 1812. The image is an old heraldic device known as the pelican in her piety.

New Jersey's coat of arms acts out the motto Liberty and Prosperity with Liberty and which goddess?

Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, holds an overflowing cornucopia to stand for prosperity. The shield between the two figures carries three plows.

Colorado's Latin motto, Nil sine numine, is usually translated as nothing without what?

Providence is the usual translation, though the words can also be read as nothing without the Deity. The phrase appears to be adapted from a line in Virgil's Aeneid.

Which king first spoke the words of Hawaii's state motto after Britain ended a takeover in 1843?

Kamehameha III said the line at Thomas Square on Oahu on July 31, 1843. That day a British admiral returned the kingdom's sovereignty after a brief takeover by one of his own officers.