| Seal of the Confederate States | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Armiger | Confederate States of America |
| Adopted | April 30, 1863 (1863-04-30) |
| Motto | Latin:Deo vindice |
| Use | On thenational currency in 1864 |
TheSeal of the Confederate States was used to authenticate certain documents issued by the federal government of theConfederate States of America.[1] The phrase is used both for the physicalseal itself (which was kept by theConfederate Secretary of State), and more generally for the design impressed upon it. On May 20, 1863, C.S. Secretary of StateJudah P. Benjamin instructedJames Mason to arrange for its manufacture in London.[2] The seal was first used publicly in 1864.
The Seal of the Confederate States prominently features theStatue of Washington in the capitol square atRichmond.[1] In the seal,George Washington is surrounded with a wreath made of some of the main agricultural products of the Confederacy:wheat,corn,tobacco,cotton,rice, andsugar cane. The top margin features the words 'The Confederate States of America: 22 February 1862'. This date reflects the establishment of the federal government under the newConfederate Constitution whenJefferson Davis was inaugurated as thepresident of the Confederate States onWashington's birthday (February 22), 1862, in the capital square at Richmond, then the Confederacy's capitol.[3] The bottom margin contains the national motto,Deo vindice, meaning '(With)God (as) our defender/protector'.[a] Confederate SenatorThomas Semmes, in proposing the motto, took pains to stress that both theprovisional and the permanent Confederate constitution "had deviated in the most emphatic manner from the spirit that presided over the construction of theConstitution of the United States, which is silent on the subject of the Deity."[4]
According to theRichmond Whig of September 25, 1862, a design that passed theSenate represented in the foreground a Confederate soldier, in position tochargebayonet; in the middle distance, a woman with a child in front of a church, both with hands uplifted in the attitude of prayer; for a background, a homestead in the plain, with mountains in the distance beneath themeridian sun; the whole surrounded by a wreath composed of the stalks of sugar-cane, the rice, the cotton and the tobacco plants, the margin inscribed with the words 'Seal of the Confederate States of America' above, and 'Our Homes and Constitutions' beneath. This seal was never used.[5]
The final design was approved on April 30, 1863,[1] and a set of embossing dies ordered from London engraverJoseph Wyon.[6] The seal was first used publicly in 1864. The dies eventually reached Richmond before the end of the war.[4] However, due to the risks of running theUnion blockade, the accompanying embossing press was only shipped as far asBermuda.[7] The dies (crafted in silver) were thus unlikely to ever have been used in any official capacity. Both sets of artifacts initially passed through private ownership before ultimately entering museum collections.[6] The seal is kept at Richmond'sAmerican Civil War Museum.[8] Thepress is in theBNT Museum at the Globe Hotel,St. George's.[7]
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