Great Seal
http://www.rootsweb.com/~neresour/OLLibrary/Journals/HPR/Vol03/nhrv03p1.html#j
Genesis of the Great Seal of Nebraska
Section 13, Article III of the first constitution of Nebraska, commonly called the constitution of 1866, follows:
There shall be a seal of the state, which shall be kept by the governor and used by him officially; and shall be called The Great Seal of the State of Nebraska.
Accordingly, on May 31, 1867, Isaac Wiles, of Cass county, introduced into the House of Representatives of the second legislature "H. R. No. 41, An act to provide for procuring a seal for the State of Nebraska." This was the third session of the legislature, and it was called by Governor Butler to meet in special session on May 16, to pass such laws as the governor thought necessary for starting the state government. After the second reading of the bill on June 1, on motion of James M. Woolworth, "the blank in the bill was filled by inserting the words Twenty-five ... .. to enable the secretary of state to carry into effect the provisions of this act." On June 4, the bill was read a third- time and passed; all of the thirty-five members present voting in the affirmative. The next day it reached the senate and was read the first time; on the 6th it was read the second time and referred to the committee on public buildings and state library; on the 11th the committee, by its chairman William A. Presson of Richardson county, reported it back without amendment; on the 12th it was recommended for passage in committee of the whole; on the 13th it was read the third time and passed, all of the eleven senators present voting in the affirmative, and on the 15th it was approved by the governor.
Isaac Wiles, who was next friend and guide to the bill, though in his ninetieth year, had remarkably good health until a short time before his death, which occurred on January 20, 1921, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. J. H. Hall, in Plattsmouth. He was born in Henry county, Indiana, on October 5, 1830; removed with his parents to Andrew county, Missouri, in 1841; was a farmer in California from 1852 to 1855; moved to Mills county, Iowa, and finally settled on a farm near Plattsmouth, Nebraska, in 1856. He had been engaged in farming, with his son, E. M. Wiles, near Minatare, Scotts Bluff county, since 1886. On account of illness, on January 16, 1921, he came to Plattsmouth. On October 18, 1862, he enlisted in Company H, Second Nebraska Cavalry Volunteers, was mustered in and commissioned first lieutenant of his company, December 13, and mustered out December 8, 1863, on the disbandment of the regiment. On August 29, 1864, he enlisted as captain of Company B, First Regiment Nebraska Militia, Second Brigade; mustered in September 29; mustered out February 13, 1865. He was a member of the first school board of his district; a member of the House of Representatives of the eighth and twelfth legislative assemblies-December 2, 1861, to January 10, 1862, and January 10 to February 18, 1867 - and of the House of Representatives of the second state legislature (1867-1868).
Mr. Wiles was possessed of much more than ordinary native shrewdness, and his
alert mind had gained in the school of experience, in the army and on the
frontier, a goodly fund of intelligence. But lacking other training, he was
obliged to seek assistance in the drawing of his bill. As he remembers, Elmer S.
Dundy, then associate justice of the supreme court of the Territory of Nebraska,
was his principal coach, though I cannot believe that so astute a person would
have sponsored this curiously contrived act:
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Nebraska:
Section 1. That the secretary of state shall be, and he is here-
by authorized and required to procure, at the cost and expense of the state, and as soon after the passage of this act as practicable, a seal for the state, to be designated and known as the great seal of the state of Nebraska, and of the design and device following, that is to say: The eastern part of the circle to be represented by a steamboat ascending the Missouri river; the mechanic arts to be represented by a smith with hammer and anvil; in the foreground, agriculture to be represented by a settler's cabin, sheaves of wheat, and stalks of growing corn; fix the back ground a train of cars heading towards the Rocky Mountains, and on the extreme west, the Rocky Mountains to be plainly in view; around the top of this circle, to be in capital letters, the motto "Equality Before the Law" and the circle to be surrounded with the words, "Great Seal of the State of Nebraska, March 1, 1867."
Sec. 2. The sum of twenty-five dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any fund in the treasury not otherwise appropriated by law, to enable the secretary of state to carry into effect the provisions of this act.
This descriptive prescription is a baffling conglomerate. I suppose it can be said that the designation of the position of parts of a circle in geographical terms, as "the eastern part" and "the extreme west" is at least original; and the mixing in of another method" the top of the circle" - equally unique, furnishes variety, though making in the sum "confusion worse confounded." Nevertheless, after the blacksmith was placed erect "in the foreground "- correct parlance - the extension of the line of his figure to the circumference clearly made the point of contact "the top of the circle," and the erection of the other figures of the seal in harmony, confirmed title in the whole picture to a legitimate top and bottom.
"I am but mad north-northwest; when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw", partly aberrated and partly feigning Hamlet explained. It is fortunate for the fame of our sturdy pioneer that touching responsibility for the form of the act he shows an alibi, and thus shifts the burden upon his trained assistants.
The pictorial part of the seal is a landscape, so that in facing it one takes
the top as north, as in the case of maps. By this view the specification of the
act of the legislature is disobeyed, the Rocky Mountains being at the extreme
north instead of the west; the train of cars runs at their base and parallel
instead of "heading towards" them; the Missouri River extends across the middle
of the landscape with an appearance of running toward the west with the
steamboat going in the same direction, whereas the statute provides that the
river should occupy "the eastern part of the circle." The smith with his anvil,
put nowhere by the statute, usurps the stipulated place of agriculture in the
extreme foreground, where he is every bit monarch of all he surveys. Truly
The smith a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
seem - prophetically in view of present procedure - to be welding together
Labor and Agriculture, already pushed into the background,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ISAAC WILES
(handwritten: "See D 322")
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
for a common political purpose. The solitary shock of wheat standing in the near background may now be regarded as a symbolic hostage held, by imperious Labor.
Many of the state seals are happily simple, but some of them are, like Nebraska's, impracticably complex, though the designer is perhaps mainly at fault. About twenty years ago I chanced to be in the capitol with J. Sterling Morton, and while we stopped before an enlarged impression of the seal which was hanging in one of the offices, Morton lampooned the picture with characteristic acidity. Though I have forgotten the particulars of his exceptions, I remember that he emphasized the incongruity of the whole. No proper appraisal of Mr. Morton's principal service to Nebraska has yet been made. Concisely, it consisted of caustic criticism of crudity and corruption and merciless lampooning of shovers and pretenders, all in their heyday on the Nebraskan farthest frontier. This talent of Morton's contributed more than any other single social factor toward making life tolerable in our early untoward environment.
As Mr. Wiles recollects, he presented to his mentor, Judge Dundy, two alternative mottoes or legends for the seal. One was Equal Rights For All; the other, Equality Before The Law, which Dundy promptly preferred. Mr. Wiles had been a strong partisan for the abolition of slavery, and so naturally cherished maxims appertaining to that cause. It was perhaps owing to this circumstance that he came to believe that he originated the legend; but "All men are equal before the natural law," is an old legal maxim.
A few years ago I closely interviewed Thomas P. Kennard about the incidents of the removal of the capital from Omaha to Lincoln. Following is the part of his story relating to the removal of the state seal:
We proceeded to let the contract for the building of the capitol, and as time progressed, week after week, month after month, it neared completion. When it was in such condition that we thought it could be occupied, we again began to look around to see whether the opposition was going to take any steps towards prevention of the removal. The air was full of rumors, whether founded on fact or not, that whenever we attempted to remove the seat of government from Omaha an injunction would be served on the state officers to prevent them from removing the seal and insignia of office to the new capitol. So Governor Butler and I, without consulting any other person, decided what steps we would take. We planned that he should leave Omaha and go to his home in Pawnee City and prepare his proclamation announcing the removal; that I would go to my home in Washington county and on the following Sunday morning I would hitch up my team and drive to Omaha, go in to the capitol, wrap up the seal, carefully take it out and place it under the seat in my buggy, drive straight to the west over the prairies and before Sunday closed cross the Platte River. The scheme was successfully carried out, and on the following Monday I appeared at the new capitol with the state seal and put the impression upon the proclamation of Governor Butler, who met me here, and which declared that the capitol of the state of Nebraska was at Lincoln, county of Lancaster, Nebraska, and now open for business.
Mr. Kennard was secretary of state at the time of this exploit. The proclamation by Governor Butler adverted to was issued on December 3, 1868.
Apropos to the discussion in and about the legislature of the desirability of procuring a new state seal, I am asked whether there are precedents for such action. Examination of constitutions and statutory laws of nine or ten states discloses the fact that such changes have been made frequently. I cite a few examples.
The first constitution of Florida, adopted in 1846, provides for a state seal. Section 12 of article III directed that
There shall be a seal of the State which shall be kept by the governor, and used by him officially, with such device as the governor first elected may direct, and the present seal of the Territory shall be the seal of the State until otherwise directed by the general assembly." The constitution of 1868 directed that, "The legislature shall at the first session adopt a seal for the state and such seal shall be of the size of the American silver dollar," and that the seal should not be changed after it had been adopted by the legislature. But the relevant point is that a new seal was designed and adopted.
In 1868 Ohio adopted a substantially new seal.
The original seals of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, have been changed, in some cases altered; in others, replaced by entirely new devices.
There has been much heated criticism of the seal of the United States, which
was adopted in 1782; but all attempts to discard it have been futile. However,
the design has been modified by successive new cuttings. There has also been
controversy over the question of changing seals of some of the states. For
example on the admission of Illinois into the union of states (in 1818), the
secretary of state was directed by the legislature to procure a seal, but no
design was ever prescribed by law, and the first seal is still in use. In 1867
the Chicago Tribune, savagely, but ineffectually, attacked its motto, "State
Sovereignty - National Union," for impropriety and incongruity, inasmuch as
there had 'Just been a very bloody and costly :war to destroy the principle of
state sovereignty and establish that of national union.
ALBERT WATKINS.