357 – Forever Australia – Not: Poms Let Oz Map Fade Away

 

There’s some corner of an English field that is forever Australia.

This almost century-old chalk map of Oz, carved into a Wiltshire hillside, seems to validate the above variation on war poet Rupert Brooke’s most famous line. That quote, about a foreign field being forever England, and the map are almost contemporary, both dating to the First World War. But not quite: Brooke died in 1915 at the tender age of 28, while under arms (what killed him, incidentally, was not a German bullet, but a nasty mosquito bite). The map, and nearby renditions of regimental insignia, have been dated to 1917 or 1916 at the earliest.

But in spite of already surviving longer than an average human lifespan, the chalk map, above the Wiltshire village of Compton Chamberlayne, is anything but “forever”. Its immortality seems a lot more relative than Brooke’s War Sonnet No 5, from which the original line was lifted. The map of Australia, a remarkable example of curious cartography carved by homesick Australian soldiers, is in the process of grassing over. In 2001, a lack of funds forced the Fovant Badges Society to give up on the map’s upkeep and allow nature to reclaim it. True to its name, the Society concentrates on the nearby regimental badges.

Those badges and the fast fading map of Oz constitute some of the more recent examples of a mysterious British tradition of geoglyphy (i.e. producing figures by exposing chalk substratum on hillsides). This tradition might date back to the Iron Age, although some, similarly undocumented examples probably are no older than the 17th century. Famous examples include the Cerne Abbas Man (a.k.a. the Rude Giant), the Uffington Horse and the Long Man of Wilmington. Uncounted others have over the ages fallen into disrepair and have melted back into nature. The same is now happening to this strange map of Australia, apparently already losing its lettering – the name ‘Australia’ spelled across the 60 metre wide continent.

Many thanks to David Ramos for sending in this link to the Australia map at the Airminded blog, which is dedicated to all aspects of all things airborne. Here are links to the Fovant Badges Society and to the Hillfigure Homepage, which includes a list of Lost Figures. Due to image-grabbing difficulties, I’ve opted to use this image, ostensibly from a Japanese website.

356 – The World War That Never Happened: US Occupies USSR

On 27 October 1951, the US magazine Collier’s devoted an entire 130-page issue to the theme of “Russia’s Defeat and Occupation, 1952-1960; Preview of the War We Do Not Want.” The cover showed an American soldier in a helmet emblazoned with US and UN insignia, reading MP (Military Police) Occupation Forces.

Collier’s Magazine devoted 60,000 words to the hypothetical aftermath of a Third World War, which would start in 1952 and in which the US and UN would defeat the Soviet Union. The articles described, among others, an “A-Bomb Mission to Moscow” (the famous broadcaster Edward R. Murrow writing about a hypothetical B-36 raid destroying the Soviet capital from an ‘embedded’ perspective).

In the introduction, Collier’s proclaimed that it had chosen this theme: “To warn the evil masters of the Russian people that their conspiracy to enslave humanity is the dark, downhill road to World War III; to sound a powerful call for reason and understanding between the peoples of East and West — before it’s too late; to demonstrate that if the war we do not want is forced upon us, we will win.”

According to Collier’s scenario, World War Three would start with an attempted assassination of Yugoslavia’s leader, Marshal Tito (a communist but also a maverick, for refusing to align his country with the Soviets). This would lead to an uprising in Yugoslavia and to its invasion by (Kremlin-loyal) Warsaw Pact armies. It is not clear from the magazine cover how the US/UN victory would work out on the ground.

The map behind the soldier shows the UN flag flying over Moscow, with the Eastern Bloc countries, the Baltic Soviet republics and Ukraine (but not Belarus) marked as ‘occupied’. Does this leave the rest of the Soviet Union as ‘unoccupied’, or ‘less occupied’, while Moscow nevertheless is under US/UN control?

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Thanks to Ilya Vinarsky for sending in a link to this map.

355 – A Map of Hinduism’s Holiest City

 

(click map to enlarge)

The temple-choked city of Varanasi (1) is the most sacred place in the world for hindus – comparable to what Jerusalem means for christians, or Mecca for muslims. It is located on the Ganges River in northern India, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. According to Mark Twain, Varanasi “is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.”

The legend Mr Twain refers to says that the city was founded 5,000 years ago by Shiva. Many localities in the city, especially near the sacred Ganges River, are associated with Shiva and other hindu deities and as such are the locus of pilgrimage and veneration. Over 1 million hindu pilgrims annually visit the city, itself having about 1,5 million inhabitants. The hindu faithful believe that bathing in the Ganges in Varanasi wipes clean sins, and that dying in the city guarantees release from the cycle of reincarnation.

Similar to Jerusalem, Varanasi is holy to more than one faith: buddhists stream into the city where the Buddha gave his first sermon, and jains revere it as the birthplace of one of their teachers.

This map details some of the sacred places of Varanasi, including some of the ghats (i.e. the steps that lead down to the Ganges river) that are used in rituals, including cremations. More information on the temples and other items marked on this map would be welcome. Any Varanasians in the room?

This map was sent in by David Wells and can be found here on his Flickr account.

 

(1) also known as Benares, Banares, Avimuktaka, Anandakanana, Mahasmasana, Surandhana, Brahma Vardha, Sudarsana, Ramya, and Kasi or Kashi – the last two names of which mean ‘the Luminous One’, alluding to its status as a centre of culture, in the Rigveda (a hindu holy scripture).

 

354 – Typogeography, Illegible and Otherwise

(click map to enlarge)

A truism in geopolitics holds that “geography is destiny.” Maps don’t have to be so dramatically laden with meaning, though. In this case, geography is mere typography. This map of the world shows the names of the countries projected within their borders.

• Best-fitting, or at least most legible are the large-surface countries: Canada, USA, Russia, Australia, Brazil, Greenland (not an independent country – yet).
• Africa’s 53 countries jostle for typespace, with only larger countries such as DR Congo, Sudan, Lybia, Chad and Algeria legible (it helps if their names aren’t too long either).
• You need to squint to recognise any of Europe’s countries’ names – Ukraine, Sweden, Finland and Norway stand out: elongated shapes lending themselves to typesetting. The rest is practically illegible (1).
• Long-name countries, especially in combination with relatively small surfaces, are not ideal for readability: New Zealand, Madagascar and Papua New Guinea are points in case.
• Being an archipelago also doesn’t help, vide Indonesia.

The mapmaker clearly didn’t bother with some of the more hopeless cases on the map (typo-geographically speaking, that is): Bangladesh, Malaysia (at least its eastern, Borneoan half), Lesotho, etc.

This map is taken from this page at vladstudio, a website for Siberian graphic designer Vlad Gerasimov’s work, which was featured before on this blog in #148. Many thanks to all who sent in this map, including Kaushik Sridharan,Varda Elentari, James MacKenzie (and possibly a few others that I can’t search-and-find in my bulging inbox).

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(1) A beautiful word, put to hilarious use in the Billy Bragg song ‘Walk Away Renee’: “I said, ‘I’m the most illegible bachelor in town’ / And she said ‘Yeah that’s why I could never understand any of those silly letters you sent me’.”

353 – Kanawha and A Landlocked Virginia

 

West Virginia is the state that seceded where others failed. When in 1861 the South broke away from the US to form the Confederacy, the Mountain State in its turn left Virginia to remain within the Union. The electoral process by which it did this was highly irregular, and its accession to the Union could be considered illegal and unconstitutional. But in wartime, legal niceties count for less than tactical advantage, and West Virginia became a full-fledged member of the United States in 1863. The wrangling about West Virginia’s secession stopped only in 1939, when it paid the final installment of its share of the pre-Civil War state debt to Virginia.

Possibly to annoy the Virginians even more, the first name proposed for the new state wasn’t West Virginia but Kanawha, after the river of the same name (1). But since the delegates to the state’s constitutional convention thought that to name the state thus would unnecessarily raise confusion with the county of Kanawha within the state, a new name was sought. Vandalia, Columbia, Augusta, Allegheny, New Virginia and Western Virginia were a few of the alternatives that bounced around the room. The delegates finally settled on West Virginia, in part also to reflect their Virginian heritage.

That decision was taken in December of 1861, so this map can be of no later date, since it still shows the seceding part of Virginia as Kanawha (as yet still without its eastern panhandle and some of its southeastern territory). It is a Map of the States of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, as Proposed To Be Re-Organised by the Secretary of War. In this proposal, Delaware expands to include all of the Delmarva peninsula, including its Virginian part in the south, but more importantly, Maryland annexes all of Virginia between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the sea. As a consolation prize, Virginia gets Maryland’s western protrusion, making Hagerstown a Virginian city. But then there’s Kanawha seceding, leaving what remains of Virginia proper to look like an unseemly leftover.

The Secretary of War mentioned must be Simon Cameron, president Lincoln’s first appointee to that post. Clearly, Cameron’s proposal was meant to give Virginians the heebie-jeebies, as it is almost wiped off the map. Maybe this was a ploy to scare Virginians against voting for secession? The Convention that deliberated Virginia’s secession, was in session from February 13 to April 15 of 1861, and its decision to secede wasn’t ratified until May 23, 1861. This map was likely drawn up in the intervening months…

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“This map was so strange and inexplicable that I thought of your blog the moment I saw it,” says Adam Shulman. He sent in the link to this page at the West Virginia Division of Culture and History “in the spirit of your recurrent West Virginia motif.” The Mountain State has indeed been featured and mentioned a few times on this blog, most recently in #349.

352 – Fritz and Ships: An 11-Year-Old’s Map of Jewish Emigration

In 1938, Germany was not a good place to be a Jew. While some German Jews might still have hoped the anti-semitism of the Nazi regime would somehow blow over, those who had the means to flee the country did so – if they found a place that would have them. The Freudenheims did, and managed to leave Berlin for Montevideo.

Their young son Fritz, 11 years old at the time, documented their traumatic odyssey in a map composed in bright colours, cheerfully entitled: Von der alten Heimat zu der neuen Heimat! (‘From the old home to the new home!’) He documents the Freudenheim family’s locations as far back as 1925, before he was born himself. Africa, with only one port of call, is portrayed as relatively small, while South America is more defined (all countries are shown) but detached from North America. Of the European countries, Germany looms largest; the trains that take the Freudenheims on their travels inside the country would soon be used for more sinister transports.

• 24 May 1925: Levetzowstrasse 6, Berlin NW87.
  The Freudenheims live on the second floor of a brownstone house in the Berlin area of Moabit (NW87 is probably a postal code referring to the street’s location it the city’s north-west). From 1941 to 1945, the Levetzowstrasse synagogue was used by the Nazis as a ‘logistical hub’ to transport over 30,000 Jews to the concentration camps.
• 27 March 1927: Aue 5, Mühlhausen
  The family apparently moves to Mühlhausen, possibly the city in Thüringen, close to the later German-German border. Mühlhausen is quite a common city name, occurring over 20 times inside Germany and a few times beyond (Mulhouse in the Alsace is Mühlhausen in German).
• 1 March 1938: Solingerstrasse 1, Berlin NW87
  The Freudenheims move back to the old Berlin neighbourhood, possibly already in preparation for leaving the country.
• 23 October 1938: Hamburg
  They arrive in Hamburg, Germany’s main port city and in these days the exit point for many Jewish emigrants.
• 28 October 1938
  The Jamaique leaves Hamburg for South America, with the Freudenheims on board.
•  31 October 1938: Antwerp (Belgium)
• 5 November 1938: Le Havre (France)
• 8 November 1938: Lissabon (Portugal)
• 11 November 1938: Casablanca (Morocco)
  The 20th anniversary of the Armistice that ended the First World War. I wonder if it was a topic on board…
• 26 November 1938: Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
• 27 November 1938: Santos (Brazil)
• 30 November 1938: Montevideo (Uruguay)
  Here, the family settles in a house on Calle Sotelo 3918. Little Fritz manages to evoke the undoubtedly mediterranean style the house must have had, just as his German houses seem duly nordic.

This map was sent in by Liam Flanagan, who saw this map at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. However, I found a link to it on this page of the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Bonn. It appears Fritz made the drawing while crossing the ocean on the Jamaique (although he must have filled in the details of his arrival later).

And what became of young Fritz? We don’t know, but there is some evidence that he lived a long and happy life. A bit of googling learns that a Fritz Freudenheim, born in 1926, died in São Paulo, Brazil in 2008. Fritz was the husband of Irene and the father of Irith and Andrea Michele.

351 – In Mottos We Trust? United Statements of America

The US goes by the motto In God We Trust (but only since 1956, when it replaced the ‘unofficial’ motto, E pluribus unum). A motto (from the Italian word for pledge, plural mottos or mottoes) describes a quality or intention that a group of people aim to live up to – a mission statement of sorts. As such, America’s newer motto has invited more controversy than the older one, since it seems to run counter to the principle of separation of church and state. Its introduction did seem to make sense at the time, what with the Cold War against those godless communists.

As demonstrated on this map, the 50 states making up the US each have their own motto too. The two-and-a-half score state mottos display a wide variety, of quotations, languages and underlying messages. English is the favourite language, but not even by half: only 24 state mottos are originally in English; Latin, once the language for all solemn occacions (and not just exorcisms), accounts for 20. Two mottos are in native languages, and French, Spanish, Italian and Greek account for one each. The system of checks and balances seems to work for mottos too: if the national motto is overtly religious, then only six of the state ones refer to God, either directly or obliquely. Most deal with secular rights, and the readiness to defend them. The Bible is tied with Cicero as the source for the most mottos (three), while classical literature has proven a particularly fertile breeding ground for inspirational quotes (mottos originate with Lucretius, Aesop, Virgil, Brutus and Archimedes).

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Many thanks to the person who sent in this map – whose name eludes me for the moment. The map itself can be found on the Two Eyeballs website, where the artist Emily Wick showcases her work.

Most information taken from the relevant Wikipedia entries, and from the state mottos section of www.netstate.com.

Alabama: Audemus jura nostra defendere – We Dare Defend Our Rights
Originates in lines from ‘An Ode in Imitation of Alcaeus’, a poem by Sir William Jones (published 1781), which were adapted by Marie Bankhead Owen (Alabama State Archives) and translated into Latin by Dr W.B. Saffold (University of Alabama).

Alaska: North to the Future
The Commission for Alaska’s Centennial (1967) sponsored a contest to provide the state with an official motto. Out of 761 entries, it awarded the $300 prize to Richard Peter, a journalist from Juneau. Peter stated that his motto “…is a reminder that beyond the horizon of urban clutter there is a Great Land beneath our flag that can provide a new tomorrow for this century’s ‘huddled masses yearning to be free’.”

Arizona: Ditat deus – God Enriches
First included in the state seal by Richard Cunningham McCormick (1832-1901), Secretary of the Arizona Territory. Probably an adapted abbreviation of Genesis 14:23 (“quod a filo subtegminis usque ad corigiam caligæ, non accipiam ex omnibus quæ tua sunt, ne dicas : Ego ditavi Abram:” – “That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:”)

Arkansas: Regnat populus – (May) the People Rule
First adoped in 1864 as part of the seal, and originally rendered as Regnant Populi (‘May the Peoples Rule’), it was changed in 1907 to the current, singular version. Origin of the phrase unknown.

California: Eureka – I Have Found It
This form of the Greek verb heuriskein means ‘I have discovered it’, and was most famously uttered by Archimedes, when he had his Aha-Erlebnis while sitting down in a bath, and simultaneously understanding that the volume of water displaced must be equal in volume of his submerged body. He is said to have been so psyched by his discovery that he ran through the streets of Syracuse naked.
The Californian moment of discovery celebrated by the state slogan is the striking of gold near Sutter’s Mill in 1848, giving rise to the Gold Rush. The Greek exclamation has been on California’s seal since 1849, but was only officialised in 1963. The town or Eureka uses the state seal as its city seal. Over 40 localities were similarly named, and the word has also been used in Australian gold rush, a few years after the Californian one.

Colorado: Nil sine numine – Nothing Without Providence
Probably an adaptation of Line 777 in Book 2 of Virgil’s Aeneid: (…) non haec sine numine devum eveniunt. The translation has often given cause for dispute, as ‘numen’ is a word that may be translated as vague-sounding Providence, as a rather non-commital Deity or as the strict and fierce monotheistic God. Some more practically-minded pioneers anglified the state slogan as ‘Nothing without a new mine’.

Connecticut: Qui transtulit sustinet – He Who Transplanted Still Sustains
Originally rendered as Sustinet qui transtulit on a seal brought from England to New England by Colonel George Fenwick in 1639, the realigned phrase was explained in 1775 as: “God, who transplanted us hither, will support us.” It might ultimately be a reference to Psalm 80, which speaks of a vine out of Egypt, transplanted to the Promised Land by God.

Delaware: Liberty and Independence
This motto was suggested by the Society of the Cincinnati, a hereditary organisation of descendants of officers from the American Revolutionary War, and underscores tiny Delaware’s huge importance in the start of that war, and consequently its pivotal role in establishing liberty as a cornerstone of American independence.

Florida: In God We Trust
First appeared on US coinage in 1864 and the nation’s official motto since an Act of Congress in 1956, this is also the state of Florida’s official motto – although only since 2006.It might be an adaptation of the line ‘In God is our trust’ in the US’s national anthem, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ by Francis Scott Key; or it might refer to In Deo Speramus (‘In God we hope’), the motto of Brown University, alma mater of president Lincoln’s personal secretary John Milton Hay.

Georgia: Wisdom, Justice, and Moderation
Georgia has two different mottos, one for each side of the Great Seal; the other one is Agriculture and Commerce. Since the side with the former motto is used
to officiate state documents (and since Tennessee also uses the latter motto), Wisdom, Justice and Moderation is generally considered to be Georgia’s state motto.

Hawaii: Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono – The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness
Adopted as the motto of the (independent) Kingdom of Hawaii in 1843, after it was used by King Kamehameha III upon the restoration of Hawaiian sovereignty by the British (who had usurped it for five months).

Idaho: Esto perpetua – Let It Be Eternal
Famous last words of Venetian theologian Fra Paolo (16/17th century), referring to his beloved home city (then still a powerful independent state). They also appear in the closing chapter of Jefferson Davis’ History of the Confederacy (1881), which might be the primary source for the state motto.

Illinois: State Sovereignty, National Union
This state motto is indicative of the tensions that simmered for much of the 19th century between pro-slavery states (using state sovereignty as a justification for maintaining the institution of slavery) and anti-slavery states (seeing the abolition of slavery as a matter of overriding concern for the unity of the nation). The motto was decreed in 1819; Illinois has just entered the Union as a free state, straight after Mississippi, and just before Alabama (both slave states). The balancing act expressed by Illinois’ motto was somewhat upset when in 1867 (shortly after the Civil War) it was proposed to reverse the wording to National Union, State Sovereignty, the proposal was rejected, but the amended seal now features the second part of the slogan slightly more prominent than in the first design.

Indiana: The Crossroads of America
Indiana had no state motto until the mid-1930s, when newspaper columnist J. Roy Strickland used his column ‘Paragraphy’ to start a campaign to find one. Hundreds of suggestions poured in, and a committee of five Indiana legislators selected the current motto (as always, it would be fun to have a look at the also-rans, but alas, the sources remain silent on this matter). “The Crossroads of America” was officially adopted by Joint Resolution No. 6 of the General Assembly of the House of Representatives of Indiana on March 2, 1937 – curiously, the resolution states that the phrase may be used “as the official State motto or slogan”…

Iowa – Our Liberties We Prize and our Rights We Will Maintain
Devised by a three-man committee of the State Senate and adopted as part of the state’s Great Seal upon its entry into the Union in 1846, Iowa’s motto has no (known) antecedents in literary antiquity.,

Kentucky: United We Stand, Divided We Fall
One of the most widely used mottos, traceable to two of Aesop’s Fables (The Four Oxen and the Lion, The Bundle of Sticks), used in Revolutionary War songs and since 1942 Kentucky’s official state motto. The slogan is/was also used on the Missouri flag, by Indian independentists, Ulster Unionists and many others.

Kansas Ad Astra per Aspera – To the Stars Through Difficulties
Often reversed to Per Aspera ad Astra or adapted further to Per Ardua ad Astra, this is a very popular Latin motto, also used by the Royal Air Force, NASA, several schools and universities, the former German Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the Dutch city of Gouda (of cheese-making fame), Starfleet (in Star Trek) and on packs of Pall Mall cigarettes.

Louisiana: Union, Justice, Confidence
Specified in 1902 by governor W.W. Heard as part of the official state seal.

Maine: Dirigo – I Direct
Maine was once the only state to hold its presidential elections in September, leading to the saying: “As Maine goes, so goes the nation”.

Maryland: Fatti maschii parole femine – Strong Deeds, Gentle Words
This might sound like Latin, but it is in fact Italian – Maryland being the only state to have a motto in that language (and in an antiquated orthography too). It translates literally as ‘Manly deeds, womanly words’, which these days would be highly politically incorrect, as it conveys the same meaning as Teddy Roosevelt’s “Walk softly and carry a big stick”. Maryland state government translates the motto as “Strong deeds, gentle words”. The motto is that of the English Calvert family (the barons Baltimore), who founded the state in 1622 as an English colony reserved for catholics.

Massachusetts: Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem – By the Sword We Seek Peace, But Peace Only Under Liberty
In frequent use since 1775, but not (yet) adopted as an official state motto. Attributed to the father of English politician Algernon Sydney, in a letter to his son, and later included in Sydney (Jr)’s “Book of Mottoes”.

Michigan:Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice – If You Seek a Pleasant Peninsula, Look About You.
Adopted in 1835, possibly inspired by a tribute to architect Sir Christopher Wren, who rebuilt much of London after the Great Fire (1666), at St Paul’s, which he also rebuilt.

Minnesota: L’etoile du nord – The Star of the North
Chosen by the state’s first governor, Henry Hastings Sibley and adopted in 1861, and the origin of Minnesota’s nickname as the North Star State.

Mississippi:Virtute et armis – By Valor and Arms
May have been influenced by Lord Gray de Wilton’s motto: Virtute non armis fido (I trust in virtue, not arms).

Missouri: Salus populi suprema lex esto – The Welfare of the People Shall Be the Supreme Law
Taken from Book III of Cicero’s De Legibus (‘On the Laws’), and also the motto of Salford and Lewisham (both in the UK), and used by John Locke as the epigraph in his Second Treatise on Government.

Montana: Oro y plata – Gold and Silver
Conceived in 1865 to reflect Montana’s assets, and to have a nice ring to it (hence the Spanish), it defeated the proposition to make El Dorado (‘The Place of Gold’) the state’s motto.
Probably the best-known of all US state mottos, as it succinctly and boldly expresses the original essence of American independence. It originates with General John Stark, who in 1809 used it to decline an invitation to a reunion of the Battle of Bennington because of poor health. The entire message read: Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils. The stridency of the slogan opens it up to parody, such as Live Free or Don’t (used in Futurama) and Live Free or Cheap (The West Wing), its recognisability has even been used to provide the fourth in a series of Bruce-Willis-saves-the-world-yet-again vehicles with a name: Live Free or Die Hard.

Nebraska: Equality Before the Law
(No background information found)

Nevada: All For Our Country
Possibly the blandest of all state mottos, especially compared with the combative tone of the next one.

New Hampshire: Live Free or Die

New Jersey: Liberty and Prosperity
Derived from the two goddesses portrayed on the state’s Great Seal.

New Mexico: Crescit eundo – It Grows As It Goes
Without context, the motto sounds like an avant-slacker anthem. But it is a phrase originating in Book VI of Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura (‘On the Nature of Things’), where it describes the growing force of a thunderbolt.

New York: Excelsior – Ever Upward
Origin unknown. Possibly derived from the eponymous inspirational poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

North Carolina: Esse quam videri – To Be Rather than to Seem
From chapter 98 of Cicero’s essay De Amicitia (‘On Friendship’), where in its context is is used to mean the opposite: Virtute enim ipsa non tam multi praediti esse quam videri volunt: ‘Few are those who wish to be endowed with virtue rather than to seem so’. Sallustius however used it more positively in Bellum Catalinae, where he describes Cato the Younger as esse quam videri bonus malebat (‘he preferred to be good rather than to seem so’). The motto is particularly popular in educational circles, figuring as the motto of many schools, sororities and fraternities. It was adopted by North Carolina in 1893 – prior to that, it had been the only one of the original 13 states without a motto.

North Dakota: Liberty and Union, Now and Forever, One and Inseparable
A quote of Daniel Webster from his Second Reply to Hayne in the famous Webster-Hayne debate on the Senate floor in 1830 – and now the longest state motto of them all.

Ohio: With God, All Things are Possible
Despite judicial action by proponents of a separation of church and state, this remains Ohio’s motto, arguably the country’s most overtly religious. Deriving from Matthew 19:26, it was enacted in 1959 after remarkable lobbying by Jimmy Mastronardo, a 9 year old boy who travelled to the state capitol, registered as a lobbyist and campaigned for three years before the governor signed it into law.

Oklahoma: Labor omnia vincit – Labor Conquers All Things
A quote from Book I of Virgil’s Georgica, which supported Augustus’s campaign to encourage more Romans to become farmers. Also the motto of the American Federation of Labor, some cities and a truckload of schools.

Oregon: Aliis volat propriis – She Flies With Her Own Wings
First written in English (by Jesse Quinn Thornton, a local judge) and only then translated into Latin. It was officially adopted in 1854 (when Oregon was still a territory), and referred to a vote establishing a provisional government for the territory, independent of the US and Britain.

Pennsylvania: Virtue, Liberty and Independence
Adapted in 1875, taken from the state’s coat of arms, representing the fact that Pennsylvania was where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Rhode Island: Hope
(no additional information found)

South Carolina: Dum spiro spero – While I Breathe, I Hope
In its brevity and elegance, this motto is a fine example of why Latin makes such a good language for mottos. The saying is attributed to Cicero, in his letters to Atticus, and to St Andrew. It has been adopted as a motto by the town of St Andrews in Scotland, and by the Hutt River Principality, an Australian (unrecognised) micronation (discussed earlier in on this blog). It also adorns the coat of arms of numerous families, among which the Scottish clan MacLennan and is used – possibly with a hint of irony – by the Asthma Sinus Allergy Program in Maryland’s Greater Baltimore Medical Center.

South Dakota: Under God the People Rule
Adopted as part of the state seal at the 1885 Constitutional Convention, on the suggestion of Rev. Joseph Ward (founder of Yankton College), this one strikes a fine balance between religion (as one of the great motivating forces of Americans) and democracy (requiring a separation of church and state).

Tennessee: Agriculture and Commerce
Appeared on the state’s Great Seal since 1801, but officially adopted as state motto only in 1987.

Texas: Friendship
Refers to the state’s name, which derives from taysha, a Native American word meaning ‘friends’ or ‘allies’.

Utah: Industry
The concept of industry has for centuries been connected with the image of the beehive, which is a state symbol in Utah.

Vermont: Freedom and Unity
Adopted in 1788 for use on independent Vermont’s Great Seal, and re-approved upon its admission to the Union in 1791. The new US state’s first governor, Thomas Chittenden, cited the motto in his epitaph: “Out of storm and manifold perils rose an enduring state, the home of freedom and unity.”

Virginia: Sic semper tyrannis – Thus Always to Tyrants
Originally attributed to Marcus Junius Brutus, the assassin of Julius Caesar (March 15, 44 BC), later used by John Wilkes Booth as he shot dead president Lincoln (1865), and more recently by Timothy McVeigh, who wore a t-shirt with this motto (and with Lincoln’s picture) when he bombed the government building in Oklahoma City (1995). Usage of the motto by Virginia dates from 1776 and thus predates the latter two (mis)uses.

Washington: Alki – By and By
In 1851, the first settlers founded New York al-ki, which means “by and by” in the Chinook language.

West Virginia: Montani semper liberi – Mountaineers Are Always Free
The motto was suggested by Joseph H. DisDebar, the artist who created the state’s Great Seal, and was officially adopted in 1872. The Colombian city of Bucaramanga uses the same motto.

Wisconsin: Forward
(no additional information found)

Wyoming: Equal Rights
In 1869, Wyoming was the first US state, and one of the first territories worldwide, to give women the right to vote. Hence the motto, celebrating Wyoming’s pioneering role in establishing women’s suffrage. One of the state’s nicknames is “Equality State”.