THE STATE SEAL

OF

MINNESOTA.

The first official record of a state seal is in the message of Gov. Ramsey to the first territorial legislature, Sept. 9, 1849, in which he says: "A temporary great seal of the Territory of Minnesota has been adopted, an impression of which will be submitted. I preferred consulting the legislative asssembly upon the adoption of a permanent great seal, and I herewith lay before you the design of one, to which I ask your attention, and if you approve it, or suggest its modification, it will be placed in the hands of an artist and engraved, and thenceforward supersede the seal now in use." On October 31st Mr. James M. Boal, from the committee appointed to draft a device for the territorial seal, reported having adopted for "a device, an every-day scene, consisting of an Indian family with their lodge, canoe, etc., and a single white man visiting them, with no other protection than the feeling of hospitality and friendship existing between the two people. The white man is receiving from the Indian the pipe of peace," etc. This report was adopted, and an act providing for the use of the seal was duly passed and became a law. But, for some reason, the seal so authorized was never used.

In place of it one was adopted, just how or by whom there is no record now, and which was used as "the great seal of Minnesota" until 1858. It bears the date at the bottom, "1849." The device is much the same as the present state seal. A farmer is plowing in the foreground, but facing to the west. His rifle, powderhorn, etc., are leaning on a stump near him. In the distance, to the left, is the Falls of St. Anthony, and an Indian on horseback riding rapidly eastward, towards what appears to be a rising sun. Over the device is the motto, "Quo sursum velo videre," the third word a misprint for volo, the whole meaning, "I wish to see what lies beyond." This motto was selected by Hon. H. H. Sibley, while delegate in congress, and the engraving of the seal was procured in Washington, by Gov. Ramsey, of D. O. Hare, an engraver of that city, at a cost of $157.

This seal was ridiculed more or less by journalists, who said it represented "a man plowing one way and looking another," or "an astonished Indian and a scared white man," etc. But it was used until 1858.

At the first session of the state legislature the question of a state seal was taken up. Hon. Chas. F. Dowe, a member of the constitutional con(11)

vention in 1857, had drafted (by Mr. Buechner, an artist of St. Paul) a design for a state seal, which he had hoped that the first state legislature would adopt. It was generally considered very suitable (an engraving is given of it on page 658 of W. H. C. Folsom's History of the Northwest). Article fifteen of the state constitution, adopted on October 13, 1857, provided that "The legislature shall provide for an appropriate device and motto for said seal." The first legislative session (which assembled Dec. 2, 1857), however, does not seem to have done so, and when the state government came into operation in May, 1858, there was still no "state seal" for use on documents. Gov. Sibley authorized the secretary of state to continue the use of the old territorial seal for the present. At the adjourned session of the legislature, in June, Gov. Sibley referred to the subject, and a special committee was appointed to report the design for a seal, of which W. H. C. Folsom was chairman. This was done on June 30. Mr Folsom had secured an elaborate design from an artist of St. Paul, Dr. R. O. Sweeny, fully described in his report. A joint resolution adopting the design was passed, and duly signed, on July 16.

Several months appear to have elapsed before the new seal was engraved and put into use, and when it was, it was found that the elaborate design proposed in Mr. Folsom's report had not been adopted, but that the device of the old territorial seal had been used, with a little change. The equestrian Indian was represented as riding westward and the farmer plowing eastward. No other change was made except the use of the word "state" instead of "territory," and adding the date of its admisssion, "1858." The motto was "L'ETOILE DU NORD" (the North Star). The "Minnesotian" newspaper ridiculed this latter in a series of vituperative articles, declaring that Gov. Sibley had used a French motto simply because he spoke that tongue. But the seal soon came into general use, and has been the only one used officially for thirty years.