Flag of Michigan
Michigan’s flag is the state coat of arms on blue: a man on a peninsula at sunrise on a blue shield under the word TUEBOR, held by an elk and a moose, with an eagle above. The Michigan Legislature translates Tuebor as “I will defend”, for Michigan’s frontier position, and the motto below the shield as “If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you”.
Easily confused with
- Flag of MaineMaine’s flag is the state coat of arms on a blue field, the same blue as the US flag: a farmer and a seaman either side of a shield with a pine tree and a moose, the North Star above and the motto “Dirigo” (“I lead”, as the Secretary of State translates it). The Secretary of State dates the flag to 1909, and voters chose to keep it in November 2024.
- Flag of WisconsinBoth a coat of arms on blue; Wisconsin has WISCONSIN above and 1848 below, and a sailor and a miner beside the shield.
- Flag of PennsylvaniaBoth blue with arms under an eagle; Michigan’s supporters are an elk and a moose, Pennsylvania’s two horses.
How to read it
The flag law is a single sentence, Michigan Compiled Laws § 2.23 (Act 209 of 1911): “The state flag shall be blue charged with the arms of the state.” It gives no proportions and no shade of blue; § 2.22 of the same act blazons the arms. The Legislature’s booklet Getting to Know Michigan says this is Michigan’s third flag, with the arms on both sides. The first, flown from 1837, the year of statehood, had the state seal, a soldier and a lady on one side and a portrait of the first governor, Stevens T. Mason, on the other. The second, adopted in 1865 on the recommendation of Adjutant-General John Robertson and approved by Governor Crapo, had the arms on blue on one side and the arms of the United States on the other; it was first unfurled at the laying of the cornerstone of the monument in the Soldiers’ National Cemetery at Gettysburg on 4 July 1865, the State of Michigan says. The arms show the same scene as the centre of the Great Seal, designed by Lewis Cass and patterned after the seal of the Hudson Bay Fur Company.
Also searched as: flag of michigan, michigan flag, michigan flag meaning, michigan state flag.
The coat of arms piece by piece
The 1911 blazon, in plain words: a blue band across the top of the shield with the motto Tuebor in silver; below, on blue, a sun rising on the shield’s left (the viewer’s right) over a lake, and a grassy peninsula on which a man in rustic dress stands with his right arm raised and his left resting on a gun. The supporters are an elk on the shield’s right and a moose on its left. The crest is an American eagle holding an olive branch with 13 fruit and a sheaf of three arrows, under a red scroll with “E Pluribus Unum”. The motto “Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam” is on a scroll above the shield and “circumspice” on one below; together they are the state motto.
Telling it from Wisconsin’s flag
Wisconsin’s flag is also a coat of arms on blue, but it has WISCONSIN in white above the arms and 1848 below, a sailor and a miner beside the shield, and a badger on top. Michigan’s has no lettering on the field, and its arms are held by an elk and a moose.
Read next
- Next in US state flagsFlag of MinnesotaMinnesota’s flag, official since 11 May 2024, has a dark blue shape like the outline of the state at the pole, holding a white eight-pointed star, beside a bright blue field. The State Emblems Redesign Commission says the star is the North Star of the state motto, “L’étoile du Nord”, the dark blue the night sky and the land of Minnesota, and the bright blue its water.
- The same shape in Accessibility symbolsClosed captioning symbol (CC)CC means closed captioning: the dialogue and other sounds of a programme shown as text on screen, which viewers can turn on or off. It is mainly for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
More US state flags
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with letters and numbers or squares and rectangles.
Sources
- Michigan Compiled Laws, section 2.23 (state flag), Michigan Compiled Laws § 2.23, State flag (1911 Public Act 209), Michigan Legislature, MCL 2.23 and history line
- Michigan Compiled Laws, section 2.22 (coat of arms blazon), Michigan Compiled Laws § 2.22, State coat-of-arms; emblazonment (1911 Public Act 209), Michigan Legislature, MCL 2.22
- State facts and symbols (State of Michigan), State Facts and Symbols, About Michigan, michigan.gov, State of Michigan, Great Seal; Coat of Arms; Michigan’s Flag
- Getting to Know Michigan (Michigan Legislature), Getting to Know Michigan, booklet prepared by the Michigan Legislature, Michigan Legislature, State Flag; seal mottoes
- Wis. Stat. § 1.08 State flag, Wisconsin Statutes § 1.08, State flag (1979 c. 286), Wisconsin Legislature, § 1.08(1)(d), (e)
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 14, 2026. How we research
Added .