 | |
| Use | Civil andstate flag   |
|---|---|
| Proportion | 3:5 |
| Adopted | July 6, 1915; 110 years ago (1915-07-06) (initial version) September 17, 1969; 56 years ago (1969-09-17) (alteration) |
| Design | A state seal above the word Illinois in blue on a white field. |
| Designed by | Sharon Tyndale |
| Great Seal of the State of Illinois | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Armiger | State of Illinois |
| Adopted | 1868 |
| Supporters | 7 |
| Motto | "State Sovereignty, National Union" |
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TheGreat Seal of the State of Illinois is the official emblem of theU.S. state ofIllinois, and signifies the official nature of a document produced by the state. The present seal was designed and proposed in 1868 and officially adopted in 1869. It depicts in profile abald eagle perched on a rock with wings uplifted and holding a shield, with a banner in its beak and sunrise over water in the background. It replaced an earlier seal that was almost the same as theGreat Seal of the United States, adopted when Illinois became a state in 1818.
Theflag of the state of Illinois bearing the central elements of theseal on a white field was adopted in 1915, and the wordIllinois was added to the flag in 1970.
The current flag depicts the Great Seal of Illinois, which was originally designed in 1819 and emulated theGreat Seal of the United States. In the eagle's beak there is a banner with the state motto, "State Sovereignty, National Union." The dates on the seal, 1818 and 1868, represent the year Illinois became a state and the year in which the Great Seal was redesigned by Sharon Tyndale. Although "State Sovereignty" comes first in the motto, "State" is at the bottom and "Sovereignty" is upside-down.[1]
It is one of nine U.S. state flags to feature an eagle, alongside those ofIowa,Michigan,Missouri,New York,North Dakota,Oregon,Pennsylvania, andWyoming.
The first Great Seal of the State of Illinois was adopted in 1819 by the firstIllinois General Assembly. The first law authorizing the Great Seal required thesecretary of state of Illinois to procure and keep the seal.[2] The first seal engraved was essentially a copy of theGreat Seal of the United States. It was used until 1839, when it was recut. The seal designed in 1839 became the Second Great Seal.[3]
Illinois Secretary of StateSharon Tyndale spearheaded the drive to create a third state seal for Illinois. In 1867, he askedState SenatorAllen C. Fuller to introduce legislation requiring a new seal, and suggested to Fuller that the words of the state motto be reversed, from "State Sovereignty, National Union", to "National Union, State Sovereignty". However, the bill passed by the legislature on March 7, 1867,[2] kept the original wording. Despite declining his suggestion, the legislature nonetheless entrusted Tyndale with designing the new seal.[3] And Tyndale managed to (literally) twist the legislature's intent; he kept the words in the correct order on the banner, but the bannertwists, so the word "Sovereignty" is upside down, arguably making it less readable.
Tyndale's seal features abald eagle perched on a rock carrying a shield in its talons and a banner with the state motto in its beak. Thirteen stars and thirteen stripes on the shield represent the originalthirteen states of the Union. The date August 26, 1818, whenIllinois's first constitution was adopted inKaskaskia, appears along the bottom arc of the circle, and 1818, the year of statehood, displays on the seal below 1868, the year the current seal was adopted. This basic design has survived through several minor modifications since it was first conceived. The Illinois secretary of state is still the keeper of the Great Seal of the State of Illinois.[3]
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Illinois's flag from 1915 to 1968
The first state flag was made in 1885 and featured a red field with the coat of arms in gold. The flag made its last appearance on May 30, 1905 when one ofGovernor Charles Deneen's sons found it the attic of theGovernor's Mansion. He raised it over the home but it was soon taken down.[4] There was an idea for a state flag in 1895,[5] but it was rejected by the house.
During her time as state regent of theDaughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in 1912,Ella Park Lawrence began a campaign to have Illinois adopt astate flag.[6] She was unsuccessful during her time as state regent, but continued to lobby members of theIllinois General Assembly to adopt a state flag as a member of theRockford chapter of the DAR.[6] On April 1, 1914, Lawrence sent a letter to every Illinois chapter of the DAR announcing a contest to design an Illinois state flag, with the winner receiving a prize of $25, equivalent to $785 in 2024.[7][6] Thirty-five designs were submitted in response to this contest.[6] One of the proposed designs was made by Miss Lucy Derwent of Rockford. It was described as having a blue field with a white circle in the middle bearing the state coat of arms with sliver fringe around it.[8]
The contest was judged by a panel chaired byLewis Stevenson,Illinois Secretary of State. They selected the design of Lucy Derwent.[6] The flag became the official state banner on July 6, 1915, following its passage in the Illinois State House and Senate.[6] GovernorEdward F. Dunne did not sign the bill, but he did not veto it.[3]
In the 1960s,Chief Petty Officer Bruce McDaniel petitioned to have the name of the state added to the flag. He noted that many of the people with whom he served during theVietnam War did not recognize the banner. GovernorRichard B. Ogilvie signed the addition to the flag into law on September 17, 1969, and the new flag, designed by Sanford (Florence) Hutchinson, became official on July 1, 1970.[9]
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For Illinois's first 100 years of statehood in 1918,Wallace Rice, who designedChicago's flag, designed a centennial flag for the state. It had three horizontal bands of equal width alternating white, blue, white. It was charged with 21 stars along the edge of the hoist. There were 10 blue stars in the upper white band and 10 in the lower white band, representing the 10 northern and 10 southern states at the time of Illinois' statehood in 1818. The center blue band had one large, white star for the state of Illinois itself.[12]
To mark Illinois' 150th anniversary of statehood in 1968, a sesquicentennial flag was designed for the state. The flag was dark blue, with a stylised white letter "I" defaced with a red map of Illinois in the center, which was surrounded by a circle of twenty white five-pointed stars, with an additional twenty-first star (larger than the others) set outside the circle to the upper-right.[13]
However, on January 12, 2017, the state unveiled a logo in preparation for the state's bicentennial the following year. The logo, designed by Ben Olsen, features a blue silhouette of the state with the wordILLINOIS above. In the center of the silhouette, is a sunburst effect with the number200 in gold. Along the right side is the wordBicentennial also in gold from bottom to top and beneath are the dates 1818 and 2018. This is all surrounded by 21 gold stars denoting Illinois position as the twenty-first state. Executive Director of the Bicentennial Office, Stewart Layne, added, "The sunburst in the middle of the state outline portrays the impact Illinois has made on the country and the world over the past two centuries and the bright future we aspire to for the next 200 years."[14][15] The "Illinois Bicentennial Flag Raising Ceremony" took place on December 4, 2017 at theSkokie Village Hall inCook County.[16]
In March 2023, theIllinois Senate approved the creation of the Illinois Flag Commission, tasked with exploring and developing a new design for the state flag.[17] By May 2023, theIllinois House passed the same bill.[18] Lawmakers stated that theGeneral Assembly could decide on the new flag within the coming years.[17] In August 2024, it was announced that a contest to redesign the flag would begin, with submissions opening on September 3, 2024 and closing on October 18, 2024.[19] The Commission selected ten designs, which were published on December 10 and put to an online public vote in January and February 2025.[20][21] In addition to the new designs, the public also had the option to vote for three historic Illinois flags—the Centennial flag, the Sesquicentennial flag, and the current state flag.[22] The state'sGeneral Assembly will make the final decision regardless of the voting results.
On March 6, 2025, theIllinois Secretary of StateAlexi Giannoulias announced on social media the results of the flag vote. The current flag received 43% of the votes (165,602 votes), while 57% of the votes were distributed among the remaining 12 designs, none of which exceeded 10%. Giannoulias commented: "Some may call it an SOB—aseal on a bedsheet—and thevexillological community may hate it, but people overwhelmingly prefer our current state flag." These results will be sent to theIllinois General Assembly, and they will make the final decision.[23][24]
| Submission number | Flag in use | #2246[a] | #3679 | #896[b] | #4129 | #4220 | #4321[c] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flags | | .svg) | .svg) | .svg) | .svg) | .svg) | .svg) |
| Number of Votes | 165,602 | 32,898 | 29,476 | 26,559 | 25,653 | 21,981 | 18,574 |
| Vote % | 43.14% | 8.57% | 7.68% | 6.92% | 6.68% | 5.73% | 4.84% |
| Submission number | #2752 | Centennial Flag | #4669 | #200 | #3754 | Sesquicentennial Flag | |
| Flags | .svg) | | .svg) | .svg) | .svg) | | |
| Number of Votes | 15,739 | 15,159 | 10,113 | 9,840 | 7,169 | 5,096 | |
| Vote % | 4.10% | 3.95% | 2.63% | 2.56% | 1.87% | 1.33% | |
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