Great Seal of Mississippi

The spread American eagle is the central and largest figure on Mississippi's seal. The eagle faces the viewer with wings raised and head held upright, a pose drawn directly from the Great Seal of the United States. Mississippi's territorial government adopted this figure in 1798, connecting the new territory to the visual language of the federal republic from its earliest official moment.

The shield on the eagle's breast has 11 vertical alternating white and red stripes, topped by a blue chief bearing 11 white five-pointed stars. The shield is placed on the eagle's breast rather than carried separately, following the design of the U.S. Great Seal, where the shield represents the strength the eagle draws from within rather than an external instrument.

The eagle holds an olive branch in its right talon. The olive branch is a classical symbol of peace, used in Greek and Roman antiquity and embedded in American federal symbolism through the Great Seal of the United States. On the U.S. Great Seal, the olive branch in the right talon represents the nation's preference for peaceful relations.

The eagle holds a bundle of three arrows in its left talon. On the Great Seal of the United States, the arrows represent the power to wage war when peace fails. Mississippi's seal uses the same figure: three arrows bundled together, signaling collective strength rather than a single capacity.

The inscription 'In God We Trust' appears in the margin beneath the eagle, bracketed by a single star on each side. The text was not part of the original 1798 or 1817 design. The Mississippi legislature added it in 2014 through Senate Bill 2681, signed by Governor Phil Bryant.