The Kansas state seal reflects the state’s culture, history, and concerns. The current version was mandated in 1859 and includes symbols of agriculture, commerce, and migration. The seal was one of the first pieces of legislation passed by the Kansas state legislature and was included in the state flag in 1927. The state seal and sunflower were the only official symbols until the western skylark and ornate box turtle were added in the 20th century.
As is the case with most state seals, the Kansas state seal reflects the culture, politics, history, and concerns of Kansans. There have been several versions of the seal, with the current version as of 2011 having been first mandated by the Wyandotte Constitution of 1859. After a preliminary draft was presented and approved by a state senator in 1861, a joint resolution of the legislature was passed describing all the textual and pictorial elements it contained. This adoption of the Kansas state seal design was one of the first pieces of legislation passed by the Kansas state legislature. When a Kansas state flag was adopted in 1927, the state seal was included in the design.
The original version of the Kansas state seal was somewhat simpler than its current 2011 version. When the new legislature met in May 1861, the governor, Charles Robinson, noted in a speech the legal requirement for a state seal . A committee was formed and soon presented a resolution to the legislature at large describing the project. Within a woven circular border appeared the words, “THE GREAT SEAL OF THE STATE OF KANSAS,” across the top, with the date of Kansas’s admission to the United States—”January 29, 1861″—occupying the bottom. A rising sun symbolizes the influence of the Orient on Kansas affairs, while a steamboat on a river is emblematic of commerce.
With agriculture accounting for the majority of Kansas’s economy, a number of related symbols are shown on the seal, including a landscape with the prominent figure of a farmer plowing and an image of a settler’s cabin. In the distance, a caravan can be seen heading west, reflecting the rapid expansion of the country caused by the migration of Easterners westward. Also shown is a retreating herd of buffalo, pursued by a pair of Indians. At the top of the Kansas state seal appears the Latin motto Ad Astra per Aspera, translated as “Soaring Through Troubles.” Below the motto are 34 stars representing the number of states that existed at the time of Kansas’s admission to the United States
Between 1927 and 1961, the Kansas state flag prominently displayed the Kansas state seal in the center with an image of the state flower, a sunflower, above it. Since 1961, the state name has appeared in large gold text below the seal. During the first half century of Kansas’s existence as a state, the state seal and sunflower were its only two official symbols. Since then, the western skylark and ornate box turtle have also been officially proclaimed official symbols of Kansas.
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