The Great Seal of the State of Ohio is the official insignia of the U.S. state of Ohio. All governmental offices, agencies, and courts in Ohio use variations of the state seal. Its primary feature is a circular coat of arms that depicts a sunrise in Chillicothe, Ohio's first capital, along with symbols of the state's origins. The seal sometimes appears with the state motto, "With God, All Things Are Possible". Shortly after its establishment in 1803, the state adopted a seal based on a sketch by Secretary of State William Creighton, Jr. Except for a brief period during the 1860s, the layout and details were left largely unregulated until a standardized coat of arms, based on the original design, was introduced in 1967. The coat of arms was modified most recently in 1996. Each of Ohio's 88 counties maintains its own official seal based on the state seal.
Design
The design of the Great Seal of the State of Ohio is defined in Ohio Revised Code section 5.10:
The great seal of the state shall be two and one-half inches in diameter and shall consist of the coat of arms of the state within a circle having a diameter of one and three-fourths inches, surrounded by the words "THE GREAT SEAL OF THE STATE OF OHIO" in news gothic capitals. The coat of arms is defined in section 5.04:
The coat of arms of the state shall consist of the following device: a circular shield; in the right foreground of the shield a full sheaf of wheat bound and standing erect; in the left foreground, a cluster of seventeen arrows bound in the center and resembling in form the sheaf of wheat; in the background, a representation of Mount Logan, Ross county, as viewed from Adena state memorial; over the mount, a rising sun three-quarters exposed and radiating thirteen rays to represent the thirteen original colonies shining over the first state in the northwest territory, the exterior extremities of which rays form a semicircle; and uniting the background and foreground, a representation of the Scioto river and cultivated fields. The coat of arms of the state shall correspond substantially with the following design: [...]
When the coat of arms of the state is reproduced in color, the colors used shall be substantially the same as the natural color of the terrain and objects shown. The hills shown in the seal are managed by the Department of Natural Resources as Great Seal State Park. Ohio was the 17th state admitted to the United States of America, and that is reflected symbolically by the 17 arrows in the foreground of the seal.
History Ohio's state seal has been redesigned at least ten times in the state's history. From 1805 to 1866, the seal's design was left unspecified, a situation unique among the states.
Territorial seal
Before Ohio's statehood, the territorial government of the Northwest Territory had its own seal. The United States Congress passed legislation on May 8, 1792, that directed the U.S. Secretary of State to "provide proper seals for the several and respective public offices in the [Northwest] Territories". A seal was created by the State Department to be used on official papers of the territory. The original seal was maintained by Governor Arthur St. Clair. Its first recorded use was in a proclamation made on July 26, 1788. The seal bears a Latin inscription, Meliorem lapsa locavit, "He has planted one better than the one fallen," commemorating the decline of wilderness to make way for civilization.
Rising sun The first Constitution of Ohio, adopted on November 29, 1802, and effective March 1, 1803, provided for a state seal but left the details unspecified:
There shall be a seal of this State, which shall be kept by the Governor and used by him officially, and shall be called "The great Seal of the State of Ohio." The first Secretary of State, William Creighton, Jr., initially used his personal seal on official documents.
On March 25, 1803, the General Assembly passed an act concerning the duties of the Secretary of State, introducing the first of many designs for the state seal, based on a sketch by Creighton:
That the secretary of state shall procure a seal, two inches in diameter, for the use of the state; a seal of the supreme court, for each clerk thereof that may be appointed, of one inch and three-fourths in diameter; and also one other seal, one inch and a half diameter, for the use of each and every county now or hereafter to be created; on which seals shall be engraved the following device: On the right side, near the bottom, a sheaf of wheat, and on the left a bundle of seventeen arrows, both standing erect, in the back ground, and rising above the sheaf and arrows a mountain, over which shall appear a rising sun. The state seal to be surrounded with these words, "The great seal of the state of Ohio." The seal of the supreme court, with these words: "The supreme court of the state of Ohio;" and the county seal with these words, "Common pleas of the county of _____," the expense of said seals to be audited by the auditor and paid out of the state treasury. The design was traditionally said to depict the view from U.S. Senator Thomas Worthington's Chillicothe-area estate, Belle View: in 1803, Creighton emerged from an all-night meeting at the estate and saw "the rising sun of the new state" just beyond Mount Logan. Creighton and Worthington both belonged to the "Chillicothe Junto" that dominated early state politics. However, most historians regard the story to be apocryphal, noting that the sun, mountains, and agricultural implements were common in seals of that era. Regardless, the present seal does represent the view from Worthington's estate, now known as Adena, as a matter of law. The physical seal of 1803 followed the adopted design loosely: from behind a full mountain range rose a sun with eyes.
Deregulation
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