Illinois State Motto: State Sovereignty, National Union
State Sovereignty, National Union
State Sovereignty, National Union
The motto appears on the state seal of Illinois
- Motto
- State Sovereignty, National Union
- Language
- English
- First adopted
- 1818
- Current design
- 1868 (Tyndale redesign)
- Appears on
- State seal and flag
- Legislation
- 5 ILCS 460/5
Illinois State Motto
Illinois's state motto is State Sovereignty, National Union. The phrase was part of the state seal from Illinois's admission to the Union on December 3, 1818. The words address a real constitutional tension: the question of how much authority a state holds versus the federal government. That question was alive in 1818, and still unresolved when the Civil War began.
What makes Illinois's motto unusual is not the words but their arrangement. In the 1868 redesign of the state seal, Secretary of State Sharon Tyndale placed the motto on a banner in the eagle's beak so that "National Union" faces right-side up toward the viewer and "State Sovereignty" faces upside down. The banner's orientation is unique among U.S. state seals and has been debated since the moment Tyndale submitted the design.
Illinois State Motto Meaning
State Sovereignty means the authority of a state to govern itself — the principle that each state retains rights and powers not delegated to the federal government. National Union means the authority and unity of the United States as a single nation, with the federal government as its expression.
The two phrases were not always in conflict. At Illinois's founding in 1818, most Americans held both ideas at once: states had real governing power, and the Union was the framework that held them together. The tension between the two became sharper as the 19th century progressed, reaching its breaking point in the Civil War of 1861 to 1865.
Placing both phrases on the same banner was an attempt to hold both ideas together. Tyndale's 1868 decision to make "National Union" the easier one to read added a layer to that meaning. After four years of war and hundreds of thousands of deaths, he made one value visually dominant.
History of Illinois's State Motto
Illinois became the 21st state on December 3, 1818. Its first state seal, adopted the same year, carried the motto "State Sovereignty, National Union" on a banner. The original seal showed the banner with "State Sovereignty" readable right-side up. No single designer of the original 1818 seal is named in surviving legislative records.
In 1867, the Illinois legislature directed Secretary of State Sharon Tyndale to create an improved official version of the seal. Tyndale completed the redesign in 1868. The most noticed change was typographical: he rotated the motto banner so that "National Union," the second phrase, sits right-side up in the eagle's beak, while "State Sovereignty," the first phrase, reads upside down. Tyndale stated his reason was readability.
The redesign came three years after the Civil War ended in 1865 and during Reconstruction, when the relationship between state and federal authority was being actively renegotiated. Critics at the time and since have read the banner's orientation as a political statement — that Tyndale placed "National Union" above "State Sovereignty" not just visually but in meaning. Tyndale's stated reason was practical. The design has not changed since 1868.
"State Sovereignty, National Union" on the Illinois State Seal
The motto appears on a ribbon banner held in the beak of the bald eagle at the center of the Great Seal of Illinois. The eagle stands on a boulder against a landscape showing a prairie, water, and a rising sun. A shield with 13 alternating stripes hangs from the eagle's chest, and the date "Aug. 26th 1818" — Illinois's constitutional founding date — appears on the seal alongside the year 1868.
The state flag, adopted in 1915 and revised in 1969 to add the word "Illinois" below the seal, carries the full seal design on a white field. The motto is visible on the flag whenever the seal is reproduced at a size large enough to read the banner text.
Illinois State Motto Facts
- "State Sovereignty, National Union" has been part of the Illinois state seal since statehood in 1818.
- In the 1868 redesign, "National Union" reads right-side up and "State Sovereignty" reads upside down on the motto banner.
- Secretary of State Sharon Tyndale made the 1868 redesign three years after the Civil War ended.
- Tyndale stated his reason for the banner orientation was readability; critics have read it as a political statement.
- The date "Aug. 26th 1818" on the seal marks Illinois's constitutional founding, not its statehood date of December 3, 1818.
- The Illinois state flag, revised in 1969, displays the seal with the motto on a white field.
Can You Match All 50 State Mottos?
Some questions show the original motto — Latin, Italian, Chinook — and ask which state it belongs to. Others give you the English translation and ask you to work backward. Both directions are harder than they look.
Take the State Mottos QuizQuick Answers
What is Illinois's state motto?
What does "State Sovereignty, National Union" mean?
Why does "State Sovereignty" read upside down on the Illinois seal?
When did Illinois adopt its state motto?
Where does Illinois's motto appear?
Illinois State Symbols
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