Flag of New York

How to read it

§ 70 of the State Law blazons the arms and then says: “The state flag is hereby declared to be blue, charged with the arms of the state in the colors as described in the blazon of this section.” It sets no proportions and no shade of blue. On the shield are a blue sky, the sun rising in gold behind a range of three mountains, the middle one highest, and below them a ship and a sloop under sail, about to pass each other on a river with a grassy shore. The crest is an American eagle rising from two-thirds of a globe that shows the North Atlantic, on a blue and gold wreath. Liberty, on the left as you look, wears blue with a gold waistband and red sandals, holds a staff topped with a gold Phrygian cap, and has a royal crown cast down by her left foot. Justice, on the right, wears gold, is blindfolded, and holds an upright sword and a pair of scales. The scroll below the shield is white with the mottoes in black on two lines, “Excelsior” on the first and “E pluribus unum” on the second. The heraldic wording (tinctures such as azure, or and gules) is the law’s own. The motto is also New York’s state motto.

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Why the arms say “E pluribus unum”

The second line was added in 2020, by Part U of chapter 58 of the Laws of 2020. Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed it in his State of the State speech in January 2020, saying that adopting the United States’ motto, “out of many, one”, would send a message of unity to a divided country, City & State reported. The same report said the seal, adopted in 1778, had been changed four times since, though not since 1881.

Telling it from Pennsylvania’s flag

Both are blue with arms and an eagle on top. Pennsylvania’s flag has two black horses holding up the shield, which shows a ship, a plough and three sheaves of wheat, with a red ribbon below. New York’s supporters are two women, Liberty and Justice, and its shield is a landscape at sunrise.

Telling it from New Jersey’s flag

New Jersey’s flag is buff, not blue, and its two women are Liberty and Ceres, the goddess of grain with a cornucopia. Its shield has three ploughs and its crest is a horse’s head.