The Seal of Baltimore is the official government emblem of the city of

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. The current City Seal was adopted for use in 1827, possibly inspired by a famous speech and toast made by sixth President

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States S ...

(1767-1848) / erved 1825-1829 on a visit and tour in 1827, in which he dubbed the city with its most well-known nickname of "The Monumental City", with the recent erection of several monuments, including this for the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

and the new

Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk shaped building within the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784) in the American Revolutionary War and the ...

column, nearing completion in a wooded park, just north of the booming city. The seal is in the shape of an

ellipse In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focus (geometry), focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special ty ...

with the image of the

Battle Monument The Battle Monument, located in Battle Monument Square on North Calvert Street between East Fayette and East Lexington Streets in Baltimore, Maryland, commemorates the Battle of Baltimore with the British fleet of the Royal Navy's bombardment ...

featured in its center The iconic monument, designed by Frenchman J. Maximilian Godefroy, (1765-c.1838), erected 1815–1822, in the former colonial era Courthouse Square (where the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...

had been read to the town populace on July 29, 1776) for the casualties suffered during the recent

when the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

invasion with a land/sea attack in September 1814, in the

Battle of Baltimore The Battle of Baltimore (September 12–15, 1814) was a sea/land battle fought between British invaders and American defenders in the War of 1812. American forces repulsed sea and land invasions off the busy port city of Baltimore, Maryland ...

, with the land conflict southeast of the city on the Patapsco Neck peninsula with several thousands of the King's Army at the

Battle of North Point The Battle of North Point was fought on September 12, 1814, between General John Stricker's Maryland Militia and a British force led by Major General Robert Ross. Although the Americans retreated, they were able to do so in good order having inf ...

and the subsequent

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

fleet blockade and bombardment of

Fort McHenry Fort McHenry is a historical American coastal pentagonal bastion fort on Locust Point, now a neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. It is best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack b ...

, south of the town, protecting the entrance to the

Patapsco River The Patapsco River mainstem is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 river in central Maryland that flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The river's tidal port ...

of Baltimore harbor. Around the inner edge of the ellipse of the City Seal are the words CITY OF BALTIMORE, while under the image of the

is the year "1797", the year in which the city was first incorporated (although the port was designated in 1706, founded as a town 1729, and laid out in 1730, and separated from surrounding

Baltimore County Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City of ...

as an independent city in 1851). Color versions of the seal are in black and gold, representative of the colors of the coat of arms of the Calvert family. The then chief member of whom, Cecilius Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, (1605-1675), founded the colony

Province of Maryland The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. state of Maryland ...

in 1634, and planned / arranged for its settlement, sending his younger brother

Leonard Calvert The Hon. Leonard Calvert (1606 – June 9, 1647) was the first proprietary governor of the Province of Maryland. He was the second son of The 1st Baron Baltimore (1579–1632), the first proprietor of Maryland. His elder brother Cecil (1605� ...

, (1606-1647), with the first expedition as colonial proprietary governor, carrying forward the original grant and charter made first to his father, George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore, (1579-1632), by his friend King Charles I (1600-1649)/ eigned 1625-1649 in 1632, before his untimely early death that year. The

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

monarch who also bestowed on him for his services to the Crown as Secretary of State, the title of nobility for a town in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, also named

. The Seal was engraved on a metal die and placed in a wood-frame structure in the offices of the Department of Legislative Reference at the historic

Baltimore City Hall Baltimore City Hall is the official seat of government of the City of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland. The City Hall houses the offices of the Mayor and those of the City Council of Baltimore. The building also hosts the city Comptroller, som ...

and used to make embossed impressions on official documents also used as an emblem on various city properties / signs / publications and vehicles, was supplemented in the 2010s, under 49th Mayor

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake (born March 17, 1970) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 50th Mayor of Baltimore from 2010 to 2016, the second woman to hold that office. She has also served as secretary of the Democratic Nation ...

by an official City Logo of a round design with the Battle Monument image superimposed on the black and gold/yellow chevrons from two of the four quarters of the Calvert family /Lord Baltimore's shield of his coat-of-arms (also used as the

Maryland state flag The flag of the state of Maryland is the 17th-century heraldic banner of arms of Cecil, 2nd Baron Baltimore. It consists of the arms of his father George, 1st Baron Baltimore (1579–1632), quartered with those of his grandmother, heiress of th ...

), as used on the later designed

city flag The list of city flags lists the flags of cities. Most of the city flags are based on the coat of arms or emblems of its city itself, and city flags can be also used by the coat of arms and emblems on its flag. Most of the city flags are flown out ...

. considered one of the most striking, beautiful and attractive municipal or state flags in the nation. This more colorful round City Logo was also circled by the words - "CITY OF BALTIMORE" but with no "1797" date at the bottom.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seal Of Baltimore, Maryland Government of Baltimore

See also

References