Kentucky State Seal – Second Street Bridge – Louisville – Kentucky
A view of an early version of the Kentucky State Seal, as seen at the entry to the Second Street Bridge (built in 1928) on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River. The official seal of the state of Kentucky has a frontiersman and statesman shaking hands. However this version matches what someone might have seen in the Kentucky state historical coat of arms in the 1870’s, where two men in swallowtail coats embrace. As it turns out, the early law creating the seal was not very specific about the “two friends” at the center of the seal, or what those friends should be doing. This led to a number of different versions being created, a problem that was put to rest in 1967.
The current state seal represents the coming together of the frontiersman, the every day Kentuckian, with the statesman who serves the state of Kentucky and helps guide it into the future. The state’s motto is one that is very familiar to many in the United States “United We Stand, Divided We Fall.” It was derived at the time however from a popular 1768 tune entitled the “Liberty Song,” by John Dickinson.