Maine State Motto: Dirigo

Maine's state motto is Dirigo, a Latin word meaning I Lead. It has been part of the state seal since 1820, the year Maine separated from Massachusetts and joined the Union as the 23rd state.

The motto appears directly below the North Star on the seal — the star that sailors used to find true north. The two elements work together: the star that leads, and the word that claims it. Maine is sometimes called the Dirigo State because of the motto.

The standard English translation is I Lead. Some sources also translate it as I Direct or I Guide — all are accurate, since the Latin verb dirigere covers leading, directing, and guiding.

Maine's official sources use I Lead as the primary translation, and that is the version that appears most widely in state publications and educational materials.

Maine had been part of Massachusetts since the colonial period. In 1820, Congress admitted Maine as the 23rd state on March 15 as part of the Missouri Compromise — Maine entered the Union as a free state to balance Missouri's entry as a slave state.

With statehood came the need for official symbols. The new state government designed a seal that captured what Maine was: a forested, agricultural, and maritime territory that had just asserted its independence. The white pine, the moose, the farmer with a scythe, the seaman with an anchor, the North Star, and the motto Dirigo all reflected specific aspects of Maine's economy and geography in 1820.

Dirigo was not a decorative choice. Maine was the northernmost New England state, with ports that depended on Atlantic navigation. A motto meaning I Lead placed below the guiding star suited a state whose identity was bound to the sea and to the forests that supplied its shipbuilding industry. The motto is codified today in Maine Revised Statutes Title 1, § 201.