By Michael Kemezis
Did you know that Connecticut has both an official state seal and state coat of arms? These two official emblems of the state depict three grape vines and the official state motto, “Qui Transtulit Sustinet,” which translates from Latin to mean “He Who Transplanted Still Sustains.”
State Seal
The State Seal of Connecticut included in The Great Seal of Connecticut, 1952 – Connecticut State Library. No Known Copyright.
Seals, either state or colonial, are used to authenticate official documents issued by a body of government. They are a physical representation of the government’s authority and are required by law to appear in many states’ produced documents. Law strictly regulates the use of a state seal. Violating any regulations, including creating and using a counterfeit, is a serious crime. Early seals were typically made of wood but are now engravings on metal.
The original seal came to Connecticut from England in 1639 with George Fenwick to serve as the official seal for the Saybrook Colony. This seal featured 15 grape vines on a field with a slight variation of the current state motto that read “Sustinet Qui Transtulit.” In 1644, when the Saybrook Colony became part of the Connecticut Colony, the seal also transferred.
In 1662, the colonial assembly decreed that the seal would be maintained by the secretary of the colony. When King James II and his appointed administrator Sir Edmund Andros attempted to take back colonial self-rule from Connecticut in 1687, the original seal disappeared and was most likely destroyed. When the local government returned in 1689, the colony tried to replicate the original seal and included the current state motto in the design.
In 1711, the colony commissioned a new seal. It displays the three grape vines (reduced from 15 in the original seal), likely representing the first three English towns in Connecticut: Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield. The new colonial seal still contained the earlier motto “Qui Transtulit Sustinet.” The Latin phrase “Sigillum Coloniae Connecticutensis,” which means “Seal of the Connecticut Colony,” was added as an inspection mark around the edge of the seal.
The seal we know today was created in 1784 after Connecticut became a state. The only change made to the colonial seal was to replace the edge inspection mark with “Sigillum Reipublicae Connecticutensis,” which is Latin for “Seal of the State of Connecticut” to reflect the new status of the state. The Connecticut Constitution of 1818 dictated that the seal could not be altered. The General Assembly further codified the form and use of the seal in 1931.
Today, Section 3-106a of the Connecticut General Statutes denotes the specific use and reproduction of the seal. The Secretary of State’s office holds the state seal, and it can only be used with special permission.
State Coat of Arms
While often similar in design to a seal and considered an official symbol, a coat of arms does not have the same legal authority. The arms (or armorial bearings) are meant to represent the identity of a state or country. They can be found on official state documents, decorating government buildings, and other state property. Coats of arms follow specific rules and structures of heraldry, a tradition that can be traced back to Europe, including using specific shapes or images.
The Connecticut General Assembly officially adopted the state’s coat of arms in 1931. The law that codified the state’s coat of arms can be found in the Connecticut General Statutes, Title 3, Chapter 32, Section 3-105.
The official description of the seal reads:
A shield of rococo design of white field, having in the center three grape vines, supported and bearing fruit. Below the shield shall be a white streamer, cleft at each end, bordered with two fine lines, and upon the streamer shall be in solid letters of medium bold Gothic the motto: “QUI TRANSTULIT SUSTINET” (He Who Transplanted Still Sustains).
The arms appeared on the official state flag, adopted in 1897, prior to being officially recognized by the state. The bearings now appear on the seals of the Office of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, among other places.
State Motto
A state motto is a short phrase that represents the values, history, or character of a state. Connecticut’s state motto, “Qui Transtulit Sustinet,” means “He who transplants still sustains” in Latin. All the official seals representing Connecticut—both colonial and state—have included the motto (or a slight variation) since 1639.
While the origin of the motto is not entirely known, one of the earliest state librarians, Charles Hoadly linked its inclusion on the state seal to a passage in the Book of Psalms in his book The Public Seal of Connecticut published in 1889.
Michael Kemezis is the director of digital humanities at CT Humanities.
