French settlers were in Minnesota for centuries before Swedish and Norwegian pioneers. The state motto, L’Etoile du Nord, meaning “The North Star,” was chosen by Henry Sibley, the state’s first governor. The state seal, designed by Seth Eastman, depicts the motto on a banner. Minnesota is also known as The North Star State and the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
Blond immigrants from Sweden and Norway typically come to mind when considering the early population of Minnesota, which became the 32nd state in the union in 1858. The French, however, had already been in the region for a couple of centuries before Swedes and Norwegian pioneers began to settle there. French settlers included Jesuit priests and missionaries, and many were voyageurs or fur traders of French and French Canadian descent. It is for this reason that it is entirely fitting that Minnesota’s official state motto be broadcast in French, L’Etoile du Nord. In English it means “The North Star”.
The state legislature voted in 1861 to approve L’Etoile du Nord as Minnesota’s state motto. Henry Sibley, an English-born fur trader who hailed from Michigan and later became the state’s first governor, chose him. He was highly educated and his father was a Supreme Court justice in his home state. Henry Sibley left Detroit at age 18 in search of adventure, taking a job as a clerk for a trading company. He later served as a congressional delegate, representing his adopted home of Minnesota. He fostered friendly relations with his neighbors, who were either Dakota or Sioux Indians. Their name for him was “Walker in the Pines”.
When state legislators gave official approval to Minnesota’s state motto in 1861, they simultaneously approved the state seal. The seal was initially designed 12 years earlier, in 1849, and received a minor redesign in 1983. Minnesota’s state motto is depicted on a banner or scroll that is displayed on the seal.
Seth Eastman, the designer of the seal, was a Maine native and an artist whose paintings primarily portrayed Indian tribes in Minnesota. He had learned to draw while attending West Point, New York’s military academy. While assigned to the Army in Minnesota, he married a 15-year-old Dakota Indian and fathered a child with her, but he ended the union when he left the state.
In addition to Minnesota’s official state motto, the state also has a related nickname, The North Star State. Minnesota is also popularly known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes, a slogan it stamps on its license plates. The name, however, is a misnomer because Minnesota has approximately 12,000 lakes.
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