State Seal

The great seal of South Carolina was first used on a document dated May 22, 1777. It was a double-sided, circular device impressed on wax and appended to documents by cords or ribbons. Its principal designers were William Henry Drayton and Arthur Middleton. Drayton was mainly responsible for the design of the obverse (front), and Middleton for the reverse (back).

The inspiration for the design came from the Battle of Sullivan’s Island, June 28, 1776, when troops under Colonel William Moultrie, manning a palmetto-log fort, defeated a Royal Navy squadron. The seal obverse showed a palmetto on the shore representing the fort, at the base of which was a blasted oak representing the oak-timbered ships. From the tree hung shields inscribed “March 26,” the date of ratification of the state constitution in 1776, and “July 4,” for the Declaration of Independence. Twelve spears representing the sister states were bound to the palmetto’s trunk by a ribbon. In the palm hung with shields, the seal’s designers chose an ancient Roman emblem of victory. The reverse depicted the Roman goddess Spes (Hope) walking on the beach at dawn over discarded weapons and holding a laurel blossom. Spes symbolized the patriots’ optimism. The two state mottoes appeared on the seal.

The original pendant seal was cumbersome to make and affix to documents, so sometime in the mid-1780s a small, one-sided seal with the pictures from the great seal compressed into ovals was introduced. Small seals have mostly been used ever since. The original great seal was used for the last time on the Ordinance of Secession (1860).

The state also uses a picture of the two faces of the great seal in ovals on a grassy compartment. On the viewer’s left is the goddess Liberty in a long flowing gown bearing a pileus, or cap of freedom, on a spear. She holds a wreath of laurel in her outstretched left hand. On the right is an army officer of the Revolutionary War with a tricorn hat and a sword. Overhead the winged figure of Fame emerges from the clouds. She blows one trumpet and carries another. The design first appeared on the nameplate of the State Gazette of South Carolina in 1785. The identity of the designer is unknown, and the emblem was not adopted in any legislative enactment. Tradition, however, calls the design the coat of arms, and it frequently decorates state publications and stationery.

Heisser, David C. R. The State Seal of South Carolina: A Short History. Columbia: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1992. Salley, Alexander S., Jr. The Seal of the State of South Carolina. Columbia, S.C.: State Company, 1907.

Seals and Symbols of South Carolina Government through Three Centuries. Columbia, S.C.: Columbia Museums of Art and Science, 1982.