Great Seal of Oklahoma

Oklahoma's seal was adopted on the same day the state was born. When President Theodore Roosevelt signed the proclamation admitting Oklahoma to the Union on November 16, 1907, it became the 46th state, and the seal the constitutional convention had prepared became its official emblem. The design was shaped by the unique political history that made Oklahoma unlike any other state: it was formed from the merger of two distinct territories, one already inhabited and self-governed by Native nations.

The eastern half of what became Oklahoma was Indian Territory, set aside for the Five Civilized Tribes after the federal government forced their removal from the southeastern United States under the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The western half, opened for non-Native settlement by the Land Run of April 22, 1889, became Oklahoma Territory. For nearly two decades, the two territories coexisted under separate administrations with very different populations and legal systems.

The Enabling Act of 1906 directed that the two territories be combined into a single state. Oklahoma's constitutional convention met in Guthrie in 1906 and 1907, producing a constitution and a seal that had to represent both settler and tribal communities. The five-pointed star with five tribal seals was the convention's answer to that design problem.

Oklahoma's seal packs its history into a small number of precisely chosen images. Each element refers to a specific political or geographic fact about how the state came to exist.

Oklahoma's state seal has retained its original composition since adoption in 1907. The core design, including the five-pointed star, the five tribal seals, the central handshake scene, the 46 border stars, and the motto, has not changed. Minor standardizations of the rendering have occurred over time, but no redesign of the seal's elements has been authorized by the legislature.