Politics | Page 6

Great Seal of the Territory of Wisconsin

The Great Seal of the Territory of Wisconsin, after 1838. The themes of oncoming civilization and retreating “savagery” were—and are—common pioneering motifs. The seals of Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, and North Dakota portray plowmen, while standalone plows appear on ten others. Kansas and North Dakota seals depict retreating Native people as well. The seal of Wisconsin Territory, containing both a foregrounded plowman and a Native man gesturing westwards, may have influenced the Minnesota seal.

Minnesota State Seal

Brass seal of Minnesota, created in 1858.

Minnesota State Seal

The original Great Seal of Minnesota was created by men who tied their fortunes to the progress (as they defined it) and settlement of the state, often at the expense of Native Americans. Starting in the late 1960s, critics of the seal argued that its imagery reflected an anti-Native American bias. In 2023, a State Emblems Redesign Commission chose a new design for the seal intended to better represent twenty-first-century Minnesota.

North Star flag

Flag design created by Rev. William Becker and Lee Herold in 2001 as a candidate for a new Minnesota state flag. The horizontal bands of blue, white, and green represent Minnesota’s skies, winters, farms, and forests, while the wavy lines suggest the state’s rivers and lakes.

State seal of Minnesota, 1983–

The state seal of Minnesota in use since 1983.

Apollo 17 moon rock and Minnesota state flag plaque

Plaque with a miniature Minnesota state flag and a chunk of moon rock embedded in Lucite. The flag was carried to the moon by the spacecraft America during the December 17–19, 1972, as part of the Apollo XVII mission. The rock is from the Taurus Littrow valley of the moon and technically known as "Sample 70017." This is a "Goodwill Moon Rock," one of which was presented to each state and 135 countries by President Nixon in 1973.