The state of Nebraska is typically known as being one of the last states to officially adopt a State Flag, which it finally did in 1963. As was popular in the 19th century, many regimental flags, which were made up of the state seal on a blue background, became unofficially recognized as the state flag. Such was the case in Nebraska until Representative J. Lloyd McMaster introduced a bill in 1925 to designate a Nebraska state banner as “the Great Seal of the State charged on the center in gold and silver on a field of national blue.†The state seal, as described in legislation in 1867, is represented by a steamboat on the Missouri River, a blacksmith with a hammer and anvil, and a settler’s cabin with wheat and corn in the foreground; a train on the transcontinental railroad heads for the Rocky Mountains in the background. A ribbon above the landscape bears the state motto: “Equality Before the Law.†Also on the seal are the words “Great Seal of the State of Nebraska†and “March 1st, 1867,†marking Nebraska’s admittance into the Union.
