The Louisiana state seal features a brown pelican, which was likely chosen by the first governor, William CC Claiborne. The design has gone through revisions, with the current version showing a female pelican with three chicks. The meaning behind the pelican tearing its breast open is unclear, but it may be related to a myth or religious symbolism. The state motto includes the words union, justice, and trust. Louisiana’s state tree is the bald cypress, its state flower is the magnolia, and its official fossil is petrified palm wood.
Details on the history of the Louisiana state seal remain sketchy, but most historians attribute the use of the brown pelican on the seal to William CC Claiborne. Claiborne was appointed the first governor of Louisiana Territory in 1803 and elected governor when Louisiana became a state in 1812. He reportedly admired the brown pelicans abundant in the Gulf Coast region and used the bird on Louisiana’s first state seal .
The design of the Louisiana state seal has gone through several revisions over the years, with one style showing a mother pelican with 12 babies in the nest, though pelicans rarely have more than three babies at a time. The current design of the Louisiana state seal, officially adopted in 1902, shows a female pelican with three chicks nesting beneath her. It appears that she is tearing her breast open to obtain food for her offspring, represented by three drops of blood.
This may have come from a myth in Claiborne’s time about a mother pelican tearing her own flesh to feed her young in desperate times. According to the Louisiana State Museum, an image of a pelican pecking at its breast could symbolize Christ shedding blood for mankind’s sins. The exact meaning of the image on the Louisiana state seal may never be fully known.
When Louisiana seceded from the Union in 1861, the pelican first appeared on the state flag. A dispute between two competing governors arose in 1864 over the wording of the state motto, which appears on the state seal. One governor preferred the word union, while the other preferred justice. The state seal eventually adopted includes both, along with the word trust.
Set against a white background with black lettering, the state seal of Louisiana reflects a simple design with pelicans appearing in a circle in the center. The state motto is embossed across the top, with very few flourishes. Pelicans also appear in Louisiana’s Bicentennial District.
Pelican state legislators have adopted the bald cypress as the state tree of Louisiana and the magnolia as the state flower. Its official fossil is petrified palm wood and its stone is an agate. Louisiana became a territory in 1804 when the United States purchased it from France and obtained statehood in 1812. The state seceded from the union in 1861, but was readmitted in 1868.
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