THE GREAT SEAL AND COAT OF ARMS OF MICHIGAN. 



BY W. J. BEAL. i 



, (Read before the Academy December 26, 1894.) 



The design for the great seal of the state of Michigan was presented 

 by the Hon. Lewis Cass to the convention which framed the first constitu- 

 tion for the state, in session at the city of Detroit, on the second day of 

 June, 1835, and was afterwards adopted on June 22, 1835. In one of the 

 rooms of the secretary of state is now a design in lead pencil. The draw- 

 ing is rather dim, but most interesting. There is also in the same office a 

 description of the great seal, which reads as follows: 



"A shield shall be represented on which shall be exhibited a peninsula, 

 extending into a lake, with the sun rising, and man standing on the penin- 

 sula with a gun in his hand. On the top of the shield will be the word 

 'Tuebor,' and underneath in a scroll will be the words. 'Si quaeris peninsu- 

 lam amoenam eircumspiee.' There will be a supporter on each side of 

 the shield, one of which will represent a moose and the other an elk. 

 Over the whole, on a crest, will be the eagle of the United States with the 

 motto, 'E pluribus unum.' Around will be the words, 'Great seal of the 

 state of Michigan, A. D. MDCCCXXXV.' " 



There is also there preserved a letter from the president of the conven- 

 tion, which reads as follows: 



" Detroit, June 24, 1835. 

 "To the secretary of the territory of Michigan: 



"In conformity with the following clause in the constitution adopted 

 by the convention now in session, I transmit you the within description 

 and accompanying device for deposit in your office, hereby certifying that 

 they are the papers to which reference is made in the said clause, viz: 



" 'A great seal for the state shall be provided by the governor, which 

 shall contain the device and inscription represented and described in the 

 papers relating thereto, signed by the president of the convention and 

 deposited in the office of the secretary of the territory." 



JOHN RIDDLE, 

 "President of the Convention." 



I have been interested in looking over various editions of the Legislative 

 Manual and numerous state reports, letter heads, encyclopedias, histories, 

 geographies, etc., which contain various caricatures of the design adopted. 

 In the original the eagle looks very well and life-like, with his wings 

 spread and the tips turned downward. #Lt the left, as we look at the 

 design, is the elk, with the neck- arched more than it should be to repre- 

 sent nature; at the right stands the moose, with arched neck, a very slight 

 crest along the middle of the neck and shoulders, but nothing like the 

 shaggy mane as shown in recent cuts that are used in various reports. 

 The horns are broad, much like those of a moose, the forehead is too much 

 curved or dished, the nose slants off somewhat abruptly, like a blunt 

 chisel sharpened on one edge, instead of the true round, blunt apex as the 



