Every state’s flag, motto, and birthday
Each US state has an official flag and motto, and a date it joined the Union. This reference brings all three together for all 50 states, ordered from Delaware (the first state, 1787) to Hawaii (the last, 1959). It is handy for quizzes, trivia, design research, or just settling which state outranks another in age.
How it works
The dataset is a curated offline table of all 50 states. Typing in the search box filters every entry whose name, motto, flag description, or admission date matches your text — so you can search a state (Texas), a motto word (liberty), or a flag feature (bear). Leaving the box empty lists all 50 in order of admission.
Admission order — the first and last
Delaware was first, ratifying the Constitution on 7 December 1787 and earning its nickname “The First State.” Pennsylvania followed just five days later on 12 December. New Jersey completed the original thirteen-colonies bloc in early 1787. The sequence then slowed as the young republic expanded westward — Kentucky joined in 1792, Tennessee in 1796. The final wave saw Alaska admitted on 3 January 1959 and Hawaii on 21 August 1959, making them the 49th and 50th states. The 47 years between the 48th state (Arizona, 1912) and Alaska are the longest gap in the admission sequence.
Mottoes: Latin dominates, but not universally
A majority of state mottoes are in Latin, reflecting the classical education common among the founders and early legislators. Some notable ones:
- New Hampshire: “Live Free or Die” — one of the most recognisable in English, attributed to General John Stark
- California: “Eureka” (Greek, “I have found it”) — referencing the 1848 gold discovery
- Kansas: “Ad astra per aspera” (To the stars through difficulties)
- Maine: “Dirigo” (I lead or I direct)
- Colorado: “Nil sine numine” (Nothing without Providence)
- Maryland: “Fatti maschii, parole femine” (Italian: Manly deeds, womanly words)
- Oklahoma: “Labor omnia vincit” (Labor conquers all things)
- Missouri: “Salus populi suprema lex esto” (Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law)
Several states have mottoes in other languages: Hawaii’s is in Hawaiian (“Ua Mau ke Ea o ka Aina i ka Pono” — The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness), and Montana’s is in Spanish (“Oro y Plata” — Gold and Silver).
The “seal on blue” flag problem and recent redesigns
For much of the 20th century, many US states adopted flags that placed their state seal on a solid blue (or sometimes red or green) field. Critics in the field of vexillology (the study of flags) called this design approach unimaginative and hard to distinguish at a distance — many states’ flags look nearly identical from across a room.
Several states have redesigned in the 2020s:
- Mississippi (2020): After retiring a flag that included the Confederate battle emblem, Mississippi adopted a new design featuring a magnolia blossom, the state flower, on a blue field with gold stars.
- Minnesota (2024): Replaced a crowded 1893 seal-on-blue design with a cleaner flag featuring a North Star, horizontal stripes in blue and white, and a green meadow graphic.
- Utah (2024): Replaced the traditional coat-of-arms-on-blue with a simplified design featuring the state beehive symbol.
These redesigns reflect a broader trend toward flags that work as symbols — recognisable at a distance and meaningful to residents.
The original thirteen states
If you search “1787” or “1788”, you get the original thirteen colonies, which joined the Union through ratification of the Constitution rather than an act of Congress. Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island all admitted between December 1787 and May 1790. None had traditional “admission dates” — their order reflects ratification, not statehood in the later congressional sense.
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