Pennsylvania State Coat of Arms

Pennsylvania's coat of arms is one of the oldest state emblems in the United States, adopted in 1778 during the Revolutionary War. The design centers on a shield divided into three horizontal sections, each representing a different part of the state's economy. Two black horses stand as supporters on either side, and a bald eagle is the crest above.

Below the shield, a crossed olive branch and cornstalk frame the motto ribbon, which reads Virtue, Liberty and Independence. The coat of arms appears on the Pennsylvania state flag, which displays the design on a blue background. The state flag was officially adopted in 1907, though the coat of arms it carries dates to 1778.

Pennsylvania's General Assembly adopted the coat of arms in 1778, two years after independence and nine years before the state ratified the U.S. Constitution. The timing matters: the design was created during the Revolutionary War, when Pennsylvania was the political and commercial center of the new nation. Philadelphia was the seat of the Continental Congress throughout the Revolution.

The shield's three elements, a ship, a plow, and three wheat sheaves, were chosen to represent the industries that had made Pennsylvania the wealthiest of the original thirteen colonies by the 1770s. The ship referenced the Delaware River trade through Philadelphia. The plow and wheat recorded the agricultural production of the Pennsylvania interior, which supplied grain to the Atlantic world.

Pennsylvania ratified the U.S. Constitution on December 12, 1787, becoming the second state. The coat of arms adopted nine years earlier became the emblem of a fully constituted American state and has remained in continuous official use since then.

In 1907, Pennsylvania officially adopted its state flag, placing the coat of arms on a blue background. The flag codified the design's appearance in a new official context but did not alter the coat of arms itself.

Pennsylvania's coat of arms is one of the oldest in continuous use in the United States. Each element was chosen in 1778 to represent a specific feature of the state's geography, economy, or political identity.

Pennsylvania's coat of arms is an economic portrait of the state at its founding. The three sections of the shield describe the same supply chain from different angles: ships that carry grain, plows that grow it, and sheaves that represent the harvest. Philadelphia's port, the Pennsylvania interior, and the grain trade that connected them are all on the shield.

The two black horses below the shield are not decorative. They are the animals that powered Pennsylvania's farming economy: pulling plows through Lancaster County fields, hauling grain wagons to the Delaware River docks, and moving goods along the roads that tied interior Pennsylvania to its Atlantic markets.

The motto at the bottom, Virtue, Liberty and Independence, was written during a war. The men who designed this coat of arms in 1778 were working in Philadelphia while the Continental Army was in the field. The three words were not historical references; they were active commitments.

Pennsylvania's coat of arms has retained its core composition since 1778. The eagle crest, three-part shield, two black horses, olive branch, cornstalk, and motto have not changed. What shifted over time was the rendering quality and exact proportions, as different engravers and printers applied the design to official documents.