Wisconsin State Motto: Forward

Wisconsin's state motto is Forward, adopted in 1851 and codified in Wisconsin Statutes §1.10. It is one of the shortest state mottos in the country — a single word with no Latin or translation required.

The word replaced the territorial motto Civilitas Successit Barbarum, a Latin phrase meaning Civilization Succeeds Barbarism. The new motto dropped the Latin entirely and pointed ahead rather than backward.

In 1851, Governor Nelson Dewey asked University of Wisconsin Chancellor John H. Lathrop to redesign the state seal. Lathrop's design included the Latin motto Excelsior — the same word used by New York state.

According to Wisconsin tradition recorded in the Wisconsin Blue Book, Dewey took the design to New York City to be engraved. There he met Edward Ryan, a prominent Wisconsin lawyer who would later become Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Ryan objected to Excelsior. The two men sat together, reconsidered the seal, and chose Forward over other candidates including Upward and Onward.

They chose Forward because it was the strongest and most decisive of the options. The 1851 seal introduced the word, and it has remained the state motto ever since.