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New Hampshire has held two Seals since it Declared its Independence from Britain prior to the US Declaration of Independence, and retains both seals, although most people are only familiar with the corporate seal of the State of New Hampshire. The original and generally unknown seal is that of the Republic of New Hampshire.
Seal of the Republic of New Hampshire
The seal was first created in 1775 by the First Provincial Congress at the time of New Hampshire's Declaration of Independence. It comprised a pine tree and an upright fish, on each side of a bundle of five arrows. The design reflected the state's then two major economic resources, and the arrows symbolized the strength of unity among the then five counties.
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As the Republic of New Hampshire was never abolished, this seal remains alive as that of the People of New Hampshire and their General Court. This is evinced by the state continuing to publish copies of its state Constitution with both seals on the cover, the Republic Seal set above the Corporate Seal to reflect the authority of the people over their government.
Corporate Seal of the State of New Hampshire
When the present state constitution became effective in 1784, the new Legislature revised the seal, to depict a ship on stocks, with a rising sun in the background, to reflect Portsmouth having become a major shipbuilding center during the war years. Various items for shipment were also shown on a frontal dock.
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Details of this 1784 seal became so distorted in the ensuing century and a half that the 1931 Legislature voted major improvements, and, or the first time, spelled out its makeup. Director Otis G. Hammond of the New Hampshire Historical Society sparked this adjustment, by reporting that artists and sketchers had injected surprising details into the seal, as they produced new dies every few years for official state use. They produced rum barrels on the dock, and, on occasion, even human beings beside them.
When Governor John G. Winant of Concord launched a second term in 1931, he named a committee to serve with Hammond, to produce a less objectionable seal. The 1931 Legislature readily approved its recommendations.
Historic Warship Raleigh Honored
The frigate USS Raleigh, built at Portsmouth in 1776, as one of the first 13 warships sponsored by the Continental Congress for a new American navy, became the centerpiece of the 1931 seal. The figure 1784 on the old seal was changed to 1776. The old Latin phrase "Neo Hantoniensis 1784 Sigillum Republica" around the circular seal was replaced with "Seal of the state of New Hampshire 1776." The 1931 seal law spelled out that only a granite boulder could be shown in the foreground, as symbolic of the Granite State's rugged terrain and the character of its citizenry.
The Raleigh has a checkered career of adversities, while becoming the first to carry the American flag into sea battle. She was unable to go to sea for 15 months for lack of armament, and after her first voyage to France for munitions, her captain was dismissed for incompetency. Soon thereafter she was beached off Maine, captured by British warships, and used for the remainder of the Revolutionary War against her own country.
Captain John F. Rowe (USN retired) of Newington resurrected the life and lore of the Raleigh in recent years. The British liked the sturdiness of the frigate so much that they sketched its construction details, to build others like it, and Captain Rowe obtained the drawings from London, to enable him to paint the Raleigh in all its pristine glory. And when Governor Hugh J. Gallen and his Executive Council celebrated the 300th anniversary of New Hampshire's state government, Publisher William Loeb of the Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News purchased an enlarged portrait of the Raleigh, by Captain Rowe, and presented it to the state for permanent display in the State House.
References
New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated (RSA) 3:9 (http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/I/3/3-9.htm)
Anderson, Leon. History. Manual for the General Court 1981.
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