Arizona State Motto: Ditat Deus

Arizona's state motto is Ditat Deus, Latin for God Enriches. The phrase appeared on Arizona's territorial seal when Congress established the Arizona Territory on February 24, 1863. It has been in use continuously ever since.

When Arizona became the 48th state on February 14, 1912, the motto carried over unchanged from the territorial seal. The seal's landscape of irrigated fields, a miner, cattle, and mountains gives the two-word phrase a concrete setting.

Congress created the Arizona Territory on February 24, 1863, separating it from the New Mexico Territory. The new territory adopted a seal that same year, and Ditat Deus appeared on it from the beginning. The founders saw a land rich in minerals, river water, and good ground for cattle and farming.

The motto predates Arizona statehood by nearly half a century. When Arizona was admitted to the Union on February 14, 1912 as the 48th state, the legislature adopted a state seal that retained the territorial design and the motto unchanged.

The motto has not been revised or replaced since 1863. It is one of the few American state mottos that survived the transition from territory to state without modification.