Wilmington journal., 1873-07-11
THE GREAT SEAL OF NORTH
CAROLINA. WHAT is 1T, WHAT
ARE ITS DEVICES AND WHEN
ADAPTED

We present to our readers this morn
ing what we know of the Great Seal of
the State contained in brief summary
of the Legislature upon the subject,
sent to US by a distinguished CORES
pondent who perhaps has as much if
not more curious and valuable infor-
nation conct rning the Old North State,
her people and their history, than any
man now living.
We sincerely trust that our cores
pondent, as often as leisure may per-
nit, will give us the benefit of his
knowledge and research.
The Congress which assembled in
Halifax, December, 1776, and organ
lied the State government and adopted
our late Constitution that gave us peace
and protection for near one hundred
wears. ordained in the XVII section of
that Constitution .frhat there shall
be Seal of this State, which shall be
kept by the Governor, and used by
him as occasion may require, and shall
be called the Great Seal of the State
of North Carolina, and be affixed to all
grants and commissions The Con-
stitution was adopted December 18th,
177G.
To carry out this, the same Congress
December ODD, 1776, ordained ''that
" VIM. I1ooper, Joseph Hewes and
{" Thomas BURKE, EsNuires, (then our
.s Delegates in General Congress, at
" Philadelphia) disappointed Commis-
:. si0negs to procure for this State, for
:. the use Of the Governor, a Great
''tSeal, to be affixed to grants, procla-
81 nations and other public documents.
90 That the Governor, until the
:. Seal be procured, make use of his
s. own pr:ya seal-at-arms, and affix
:: the same to public documents.
1t would seem that Our Delegates i'll
Congress failed to procure any Sc al
under this ordinance, as 40 further
mention is ever made of it.
The Assembly of 1778, chapter X,
april and May 1873 enacted "that
WILLIAM TIsDALE, Esq, be appointed
to cut and engrave a Seal, under the
direction of the Governor, for the
State, and when engraved, shall be
called rate Great Seal of the State of
North Carolina, aha ifseed by the Gov
ernor to affix to all grants, coma. ass;;cns,
proalamatiors and other public docu-
ments.'
No device Or design fer the Seal is
alluded to or reported, bnt all IL left
to the Correction of the Governor
The next notice of our "Great Seal
of State WAS in the Acts of17S1, chapter
XIII, directing the Governor to
procure Estate Seal for all the pub
lie offices and Court of Records. The
Sealg to be prepared with one side
On1y, ana calculated to make the i'm
preston on The fe4Ie of grant, COM
mission or other public record, and
''tI.e present Seal not to be used after
the new ol.eis procured. The Acts of
1898, chapter XAy, acknowledge the
new Seal of 1856 and direct lis Hse for
the future.
The next Legislation is found in Acts
of Assembly. 1884, chapter XIV,
(under the administration Of Governor
SWAIN which recites that ''the Seal of
this State" used since 1893 is very
much worn. "The Governor is hereby
authorized to procure a Great Seal for
this State, which shall bear suitable
devices" And the Seal thus prepared,
it is presansel is now the Seal of State
except slight flter&i;on made by the
Convention of 1866, requiring the i'm
preston to be made on the paper itself
by figures in relief, protnberant on one
side and pressed in on the other,
in all these acts concerning the
"Greaa s!3eal of State" no device or en-
blems are ai1uGas5 to. except the last
act of 1884, which says i must bear
suitable devices. In the original seal
there were emblems or designs, and
they We're altered every time the seal
was renewed or .Ghanged, but they
were never reported to the Legislature
or received any legal sanction. The
Governor, foT the time being. having
the entire direction, !sn4l all that was or
could lie known of it was an inspection
Of the Seai Itself in the Governors
possession. Consequently they have
been changed and altered, eithsf nHder
.the direction of the Governors" or
20 shit the taste or convenience of the
architect who engraved it.
Hence arises the question we started
with: What is "the great seai of the
State of North Carolina? WHAT
changss kaye been made in the devices
or emble,ns OF the Seal, both in the
position of the figures ssa3 their gen.
eral characters?"