Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1922-01-06
Origin and Meaning of State Seal.

N4AS4A nAN uANo4AAAAS Va SgoAbO 0NS~A'
Few people today realize the sig
nificance of the design on the great
seal used on all official documents of
the state of Minnesota or know how
and when it originated. The "Legis-
lative Manual or blue Book" con-
tains a statement on the subject but
it is incomplete and inaccurate. In
the new History of Minnesota" by
DR.. William w. Folwell, volume l of
which has just been published by the
Minnesota Historical Society, the
story of the seal is told and the first
officers of the territory are absolved
from the implied change of disre-
garding an act of the legislature.
According to the Blue Book" the
first territorial legislature in 1849
adopted a design for the seal which
depicted an Indian family welcoming
a visiting white man and extending
to him the pipe of peace. From an
examination of the legislative jour-
nails DR.. Folwell finds that this de-
sign was approved by the council but
was rejected by the house of repre-
SCALdIANCS anu 1uOJACA G&St " GO Pe1oOSN
authorizing the governor and the de-
legate in congress to select a design
and motto for the seal. Apparently
some of the -- pioneer legislators
thought that the design submitted,
which was to symbolic 1.-The eternal
friendship of the two races did not
indicate the true state of affairs.
I From letters and sketches in the
Sibley papers on file in the manu-
script division of the Minnesota His
torical Society, it appears that Dele
gate Sibley put the matter up to Col.
]. J. Albert, an officer of engineers in
Washington, and one. of the designs
submitted by him, as redrawn anu
added to by Captain Seth Eastman,
an artist who. had been commandant
at FIT. Smelling, was accented by the
commissioners. This design depicted
white man engaged in blowing and
looking back at a mounted Indian
riding away toward what was sup
posed to be the setting sun. The falls
of st. Anthony were introduced in the
background in such way as to put
the figures on the east side of the
Mississippi and make it appear that
the Indian was riding toward the
east rather than the west.
The significance of the design was
expressed by the wife of Captain
Eastman in a poem of eight stanzas,
the first of which reads as follows:
Give way, give way, young warrior,
Thou and thy steed give way
Rest not, though fingers on the hills
The red suns parting ray.
The rock bluff and prairie land
The white man claims them now,
/ The symbols of his course are here,
The rife, axe, and plough"
Governor Ramsey wanted for the
motto something characteristic in an
, eminent degree of American goahead-
ativeness." The one selected was that
Of the Scottish Earl of Dunraven,
"Quae Sursum volo videre," generally
translated, "I wish to see what is be-
| yond." Two mistakes were made in
the Latin, however; "quae" was
changed to quo and "volo" to "velo'
! with the reslt that motto as used
was meaningless. ....
The seal ana press were made in
/ the east under Sibley's direction and
| cost $3.50. This seal, which was used
| throughout the territorial period now
reposes in the museum of the Histori-
cal society. When Minnesota became
state in 1853, new seal was pre-
, pared embodying the same ideas, but
4 with the figures on the west side of
the river and with the motto changed
to ''L'Etoile du Nord," which trans
lated is "The Star of the North"