One of the initial acts of the first Iowa Legislature in 1847 was to create the Great Seal of Iowa.
The two-inch diameter seal pictures a citizen soldier standing in
a wheat field, surrounded by farming and industrial tools, with
the Mississippi River in the background. An eagle is overhead,
holding in its beak a scroll bearing the state motto, "Our
liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain." The
motto was the work of a three-man Senate committee and was
incorporated into the design of the seal at their suggestion.
