The coat of arms of Pennsylvania is an official emblem of the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryl ...

, alongside the seal and state flag, and was adopted in 1778. The flag of Pennsylvania consists of a blue field on which the state coat of arms is displayed.

Coat of arms

Design and symbolism

The Pennsylvania

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

features a shield crested by a North American bald eagle, flanked by horses, and adorned with symbols of Pennsylvania's strengths—a ship carrying state commerce to all parts of the world; a clay-red plough, a symbol of Pennsylvania's rich natural resources; and three golden sheaves of wheat, representing fertile fields and Pennsylvania's wealth of human thought and action. An olive branch and cornstalk cross limbs beneath—symbols of peace and prosperity. The state motto, "Virtue, Liberty and Independence", appears festooned below. Atop the coat of arms is a

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

, representing Pennsylvania's loyalty to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Use

Besides being used by itself, the coat of arms is used on the

state flag In vexillology, a state flag is either the flag of the government of a sovereign state, or the flag of an individual federated state (subnational administrative division). Government flag A state flag is a variant of a national flag (or occas ...

, many governmental seals of the state, and the flag of the Governor. File:Flag of Pennsylvania.svg,

Flag of Pennsylvania The coat of arms of Pennsylvania is an official emblem of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, alongside the seal and state flag, and was adopted in 1778. The flag of Pennsylvania consists of a blue field on which the state coat of arms is dis ...

File:Flag of the Governor of Pennsylvania.svg,

Flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

of the

Governor of Pennsylvania A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

File:Seal of the Governor of Pennsylvania.svg,

Seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

of the

File:Seal of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.svg, Seal of the Secretary of the Commonwealth File:Seal of the Auditor General of Pennsylvania.svg, Seal of the

Auditor General An auditor general, also known in some countries as a comptroller general or comptroller and auditor general, is a senior civil servant charged with improving government accountability by auditing and reporting on the government's operations. Freq ...

of Pennsylvania File:Seal of the Inspector General of Pennsylvania.svg, Seal of the Inspector General of Pennsylvania File:Seal of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.svg, Seal of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

of Pennsylvania File:Seal of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.svg, Seal of the

Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

of Pennsylvania File:Seal of the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline.svg, Seal of the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline File:Seal of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.svg, Seal of the

Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services is a cabinet-level state agency in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services' seven program offices administer services that provide care and support to Pennsylvania's most vulnerabl ...

Flag

Design

The flag of Pennsylvania is a blue background (by law, the same blue as the

flag of the United States The national flag of the United States, United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rect ...

) charged with the Pennsylvania coat of arms. It is one of eight U.S. state flags to feature an eagle, alongside those of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

History

Originally authorized by the state in 1798, the current design was enacted by law on June 13, 1907, specifically standardizing the field of blue to be the "same color as the blue field in the

NAVA Ranking

In 2001, the

North American Vexillological Association The North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) is a membership organization devoted to vexillology, the scientific and scholarly study of flags. It was founded in 1967 by American vexillologist Whitney Smith (1940–2016), and others. It ...

surveyed 100 of its members and 337 members of the general public on the designs of the 72

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

, U.S. territorial and Canadian provincial flags. The survey ranked Pennsylvania's flag 57th out of the 72. This was believed to be due to both the complexity of its design, and its inability to stand out among a sea of similar “seal-on-a-bedsheet” designs common to more than half of U.S. state flags flags.

Attempts to change the flag

Between 2004 and 2014, several attempts were made to add the word "Pennsylvania" to the state flag. According to former State Representative Tim Solobay (who introduced the first set of bills), this was intended to make Pennsylvania's flag more unique and identifiable. While the bill failed to leave committee in the first two sessions it was introduced, a 2006 survey offered by Solobay's office to help refine the defined design may have swayed legislators to act on the bill, which was amended on May 7th, 2007. On June 11th, 2007, The Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted in favor of the bill, 164–31. The Senate State Government Committee never considered the bill, which died at the end of the Pennsylvania General Assembly's two-year session. The bill was reintroduced by Solobay in 2009, and on the next session day, a second similar bill was introduced by former State Representative Gary Haluska with a competing definition of the design. Neither bill was raised in committee that session. Haluska's proposal was reintroduced alone in both the 2011-12 and 2013-14 sessions, and died in committee both times. File:Flag of Pennsylvania with name added below (2004 Proposal).svg, alt=2004 Proposal, interpreted to mean "Pennsylvania" is written below the Coat of Arms, 2004-2007 Proposal, adding "the word 'Pennsylvania' to be embroidered upon the flag in yellow silk." File:Flag of Pennsylvania with Yellow Lettering (2007 Proposal).svg, 2007-2010 Proposal, adding the words "Commonwealth Of" to the top and "Pennsylvania" to the bottom of the flag in yellow silk, and arching the lettering around the Coat of Arms File:Flag of Pennsylvania with Yellow Lettering on Red Festoon (2009 Proposal).svg, alt=2009 Proposal, adding the word "Pennsylvania" in yellow silk "centered within a symmetrical red festoon, similar to that containing the State motto; and the festoon to be centered above the bald eagle on the coat of arms.", 2009-2014 Proposal, adding the word "Pennsylvania" in yellow silk "centered within a symmetrical red festoon, similar to that containing the State motto; and the festoon to be centered above the bald eagle on the coat of arms."

Flag of the Governor

The flag of the

governor of Pennsylvania A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

contains the state coat of arms on a field of white. Above the coat of arms, the flag displays a red ribbon with "The Governor" written in gold sans serif lettering. Below the coat of arms, the flag displays another red ribbon with "Commonwealth of Pennsylvania" in gold lettering.

Historical depictions of the Pennsylvania flag, and flags associated with Pennsylvania

File:Whiskey Rebellion Flag.svg, Flag of the

Whiskey Rebellion The Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection) was a violent tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax impo ...

File:PennFlag-July4th1819.jpg, The flag as it appears in an 1819 painting titled ''" Independence Day Celebration in Centre Square, Philadelphia"'' File:The government of the people of the state of Pennsylvania (1902) (14598125807).jpg, alt=Image from page 7 of "The government of the people of the state of Pennsylvania" (1902), Image from pg7 of "The government of the people of the state of Pennsylvania" (1902) File:1747 Pennsylvania Associators Flag (reconstruction).png, 1747 Flag of Pennsylvania Associators (now the modern 111th Infantry Regiment and 28th Infantry Division) designed by Ben Franklin. (Colors, if any, unknown) File:First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry Flag.png, Flag of First Troop, Philadelphia Light Horse, a Pennsylvania cavalry unit created just before the Revolutionary War

References

External links

Display of the state flag
{{Pennsylvania Symbols of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...