Seal of South Carolina

Great Seal of the State of South Carolina
Versions

Historical coat of arms (1876)
Details
Armiger State of South Carolina
Adopted 1776
Motto Quis separabit?
Meliorem Lapsa Locavit
Animis Opibusque Parati
Dum Spiro Spero
Spes

The Great Seal of the State of South Carolina was adopted in 1776. The seal is made up of two elliptical areas, linked by branches of the palmetto tree. The image on the left is dominated by a tall palmetto tree and an oak tree, fallen and broken. This scene represents the battle fought on June 28, 1776, between defenders of the unfinished fort on Sullivan's Island, and the British Fleet. The standing palmetto represents the victorious defenders, and the fallen oak is the British Fleet. Banded together on the palmetto with the motto "Quis separabit?" ("Who Will Separate [Us]?"), are 12 spears that represent the first 12 states of the Union. Surrounding the image, at the top, is "South Carolina", and below, is "Animis Opibusque Parati", or "Prepared in Mind and Resources". The other image on the seal depicts the Roman Goddess Spes walking along a shore that is littered with weapons. The Goddess, symbolizing Hope, grasps a branch of laurel as the sun rises behind her. Below her image is her name "Spes", or "Hope", and over the image is the motto "Dum Spiro Spero", or "While I Breathe I Hope".

The Great Seal of South Carolina was "set" or "affixed" to the Ordinance of Secession of December 20, 1860, at Secession Hall in Charleston shortly after 7:00 p.m., following which convention delegates signed it, including Robert Barnwell Rhett, as some three thousand South Carolinians watched enthusiastically the proclamation of South Carolina as "a separate, independent nationality."[1]

Government seals of South Carolina

See also

References

  1. ↑ Charleston Mercury, December 21, 1860, reproduced in The Anderson Intelligencer, January 3, 1861, p. 2. The Mercury declared that by this act South Carolina had "recorded herself before the universe. In reverence before God, fearless of man, unawed by power, unterrified by clamor, she has cut the Gordian know of colonial dependence upon the North -- cast her fortune upon her right, and her own right arm, and stands ready to uphold alike her independence and her dignity before the world. Prescribing to none, she will be dictated to by none; willing for peace, she is ready for war. Deprecating blood, she is willing to shed it. Valuing her liberties, she will maintain them. Neither swerved by frowns of foes, nor swayed by timorous solicitations of friends, she will pursue her direct path, and establish for herself and for her posterity, her rights, her liberties and her institutions. Though friends may fail her in her need, though the cannon of her enemies may belch destruction among her people, South Carolina, unawed, unconquerable, will still hold aloft her flag."

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