New Jersey’s unofficial state motto is “Liberty and Prosperity” and is featured on the state seal and flag. The state has several unofficial nicknames, including “The Garden State” and “The Switzerland of America.” New Jersey also has various state symbols, including the horse, eastern goldfinch, knobby whelk, brook trout, blueberry, purple violet, and red oak.
The state motto of New Jersey is simply “Liberty and Prosperity”. Like a number of other states, New Jersey’s state motto has not been officially adopted. It has gained acceptance as an unofficial state motto because it is a feature of the state seal. The motto is a reflection of the feelings the colonists felt after declaring independence from Great Britain in 1776.
The seal of New Jersey fully incorporates the state motto because the figures of Ceres and Liberty – both mythical Roman figures – are featured on the seal. Ceres was a Roman goddess of grain crops and agriculture which is why she is described on the seal as prosperity. Liberty was also the name of an ancient Roman goddess. Below the two is a banner bearing the New Jersey state motto, “Liberty and Prosperity,” as well as the date 1776. The first version of the seal was designed in 1777 by Perre Eugene du Simitiere.
The state motto of New Jersey is also featured on the state flag. The state flag of New Jersey has a representation of the state coat of arms in the center of a buff colored background. The color was chosen by General George Washington and is representative of the uniform colors of Dutch settlers originally from Holland and the Netherlands. The New Jersey state motto is written on a bright blue banner that pops against the buff background.
New Jersey has several unofficial nicknames. The nickname “The Garden State” is a reference to the New Jersey truck farms that have long supplied agricultural and floral products to cities. “The Clam State” is a reference to the abundance of clams found in Delaware Bay. New Jersey has many mountains, which have earned it the nickname “The Switzerland of America”. “The State of Spain” is a nickname born from the influence of Joseph Bonaparte, a Spanish king who fled to Spain in 1812.
In addition to New Jersey’s state motto, other state symbols include things like the official mammal, which is the horse, and the state bird, which is the eastern goldfinch. New Jersey has a state shell, which is knobby whelk, a state fish, which is brook trout, and a state fruit, which is blueberry. The purple violet is the state flower, while the red oak is the official state tree.
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