Flag of Michigan

What the Michigan state flag looks like

The state flag of Michigan is a dark blue field with the Michigan coat of arms in the center. The flag is the usual three-by-two rectangle, and the arms are drawn in blue, white, gold and red.

The arms are made up of these parts:

• The shield. A man stands on a peninsula beside a lake at sunrise. He raises one hand as a sign of peace and carries a long gun in the other. A ribbon over him reads Tuebor.
• The supporters. An elk stands on the left and a moose on the right, each holding the shield.
• The crest. A bald eagle perches above, holding an olive branch and arrows. A ribbon above it carries E Pluribus Unum.
• The base. A ribbon at the bottom reads Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice.

The three animals are the elk, the moose and the bald eagle.

Michigan flag meaning and symbolism

The words on the flag are three Latin mottos:

• E Pluribus Unum means "Out of many, one." It is a motto of the United States and also appears on the U.S. Great Seal.
• Tuebor means "I will defend." It reflects Michigan's frontier position and refers to the man on the shield, who raises his hand to show peace but keeps a gun ready.
• Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice means "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you."

The shield shows the sun rising over a lake and a peninsula. The elk and moose are taken from the coat of arms of the Hudson's Bay Company and represent great animals of Michigan, and the eagle represents the United States. The blue field continues the blue of Union regimental flags in the Civil War and stands for the state's loyalty to the Union.

History of the Michigan flag

Michigan joined the Union in 1837. Michigan has had three state flags. The first, the Brady Flag of 1837, was made of white silk with the coat of arms and was not an officially commissioned state flag. A second flag, adopted in 1865, had the arms on a blue field.

The legislature adopted the first official state flag on August 1, 1911, as the state approached the 75th anniversary of its statehood. The law describes it simply as blue, charged with the arms of the state. That is the flag in use today. Bills to set up a commission to redesign it were introduced in 2016, 2021 and 2024, but none passed.

You can compare Michigan with its neighbors in the gallery of U.S. state flags, or see the national banner on the United States page.

Interesting facts about the Michigan flag

• The governor's flag uses the same arms on a white field instead of blue, and the state has an official flag month from June 14 through July 14.
• Of the three mottos, Tuebor is the only one that refers directly to the man on the shield.
• The state fills the flag with Latin; none of the text is in English.