Seal of Kansas

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Kansas Seal

[edit] Details

The Kansas state seal 2 tells the history of Kansas.

The seal contains:

  • Landscape with a rising sun (the east)
  • River and steamboat (commerce)
  • Settler's cabin and a man plowing a field (agriculture) [foreground]
  • Wagon train heading west (American expansion / pioneer life)
  • Indians hunting American Bison (the buffalo are fleeing from the Indians)
  • Cluster of 34 stars (top of the seal) - identifying Kansas as the 34th state to be accepted into the Union of the United States.


The seal is used on the flag of Kansas.

[edit] History

The design for the Great Seal of Kansas was submitted by John J. Ingalls, a state senator from Atchison. Ingalls also proposed the state motto, "Ad astra per aspera." The Great Seal of the State of Kansas was established by a joint resolution adopted by the Kansas Legislature May 25, 1861.

The resoultion states:

"The east is represented by a rising sun, in the right-hand corner of the seal; to the left of it, commerce is represented by a river and a steamboat; in the foreground, agriculture is represented as the basis of the future prosperity of the state, by a settler’s cabin and a man plowing with a pair of horses; beyond this is a train of ox-wagons, going west; in the background is seen a herd of buffalo, retreating, pursued by two Indians, on horseback; around the top is the motto, ‘Ad astra per aspera,’ and beneath a cluster of thirty-four stars. The circle is surrounded by the words, "Great seal of the state of Kansas. January 29, 1861."
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