Why are the flags of so many American states just the seal in the middle of a blue rectangle?

32 comments

1. Because it was the trend in the 1780’s through the early 1800’s.

2. Because most of our state flags simply suck.

   Maybe blue dye was cheap and readily available?

3. Ummm… y’all need to pull Utah off that list.

   I mean… it ain’t Maryland… but we did get a new flag.

4. We didn’t put that much effort into our state flags.

5. People were big on seals back in the day.

6. Because the designers knew there’d be a /r/vexillologycirclejerk subreddit one day who would instead suggest geometric patterns that “represented” things about the state using colors.

7. JJ McCullough had an interesting take on this. Back in the early days of the country, the state seal was actually one of the most important symbols of the state, so naturally a lot of states just decided to put their seals on the state flag. Blue is a nice color, I guess.

8. Can’t really speak to why they’re that way but I think they look nice, personally. It’s a very clean and simple look, though I suppose since so many states did it, it can make them easier to mix up. Some of them have pretty recognizable seals though (looked at a map and Indiana and South Carolina stood out as still pretty visually distinct for example). A number of others actually write the state name on the flag as well so that should also clarify some confusion.

   It might have just been a thing where everyone came up with a seal and that seemed good and official looking enough for their purposes.

9. Most state flags are flown on official buildings, and that’s it. They aren’t designed with much else in mind, but (just by custom) they *have* to have a flag. They just don’t put much effort into it.

   I could see, say, Texas, having a fancy flag. They were an independent country.

10. My state’s flag is a state seal on a green background, which is at least a different kind of boring than blue.

11. Government seals used to be a lot more important than flags. Flags are decorative with little practical use outside of labeling which warship belong to which country. Government seals, however, are much more important, because they verify the authenticity of government documents. If you’ve ever recieved something like a university degree, the physical diploma that they send you will have, at the very least, the seal of the university you got that degree from. That seal verifies the authenticity of that degree.

    Arguably, in today’s modern world, using seals to authenticate documents is kinda unnecessary now thanks to technology. However, democratic tradition still holds government seals in high regard.

12. You need to watch this hilarious video where CGP Grey grades the state flags:

    https://youtu.be/l4w6808wJcU

13. State seals used to be a lot more important and well known, so it made sense to use them a lot in the time.

    Nowadays, most people dont care that much about the seal or the flag so it’s just kinda still there in many states.

14. Because many states just don’t care about their flags.

15. The Kansas flag was adopted in 1921. Prior to that there was a state banner. My understanding is that it took a long time for anyone to agree on a design so maybe they were done with trying to be creative and just wanted a flag. It is the state seal with a sunflower above it and the word Kansas below. I think the seal was agreed on much faster.

    https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/kansas-state-flag/14498

16. Oklahoma’s flag isn’t a seal. That’s an Osage War Shield, with an olive branch and peace pipe.

17. We got a topless lady!!! Come at me bro!!

18. They’re not classy enough to realize it ought to be a yellow rectangle

19. South Carolinas is actually not the seal it’s a unique symbol from a flag flown during the Revolutionary War. Also not all the states are like that, I live in Tennessee and we have a very unique and distinct flag that IMO is one of the best flags in the union

20. well Oregon’s flag has a different design on each side, so there’s that.

21. Lazy politicians

22. Ohio’s isn’t even a rectangle 😉

23. Our seal is badass.

    It has a dead king, the personification of justice, nudity, and an explicit threat that we, as a people, plan more killing.

24. Because the seals were made first, and they didn’t have any good ideas. I wish Pennsylvania would change to a yellow keystone on the blue rectangle, but I still love my state flag

25. I remeber a theory that, after the Civil War, many states distanced themselves from state identity as it was tied to the traitors in the south. That, and most local and state reps don’t really care about sitting through meetings and committees on something as minor as a flag

26. Because earlier politicians had no creativity

27. A lot of it traces back to the Civil War, for simplicity many states in the North( the Union Side) would use a Blue Flag with the State Seal, while Southern State Flags tend to have Red white and Blue in Various designs.

    At this moment the State of Minnesota is going through the process of replacing its current flag [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Minnesota.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Minnesota.svg)

    the current top runner is the North Star Flag [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Minnesota_North_Star_Flag.svg/170px-Minnesota_North_Star_Flag.svg.png](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Minnesota_North_Star_Flag.svg/170px-Minnesota_North_Star_Flag.svg.png)

28. With the notable exception of Texas, state flags are mainly used be government, I’ve actually never seen a residence flying a Minnesota flag. Having the the seal on a solid color is good enough for official government functions.

    In Minnesota we’re redesigning the flag and the seal on the grounds it’s “offensive” and that the design sucks. I don’t agree that we should give into wokism, but you’ll get no argument from me that we should change it because the design sucks. There’s been a professionally designed flag called the “North Star Banner” I like that’s been floating around about 20 years, it’s both distinctive and can be drawn by a 1st grader.

29. Many of them I believe were products of the civil war, when state flags were used for military divisions of different states. Many states didn’t have a flag, and so hastily made one to send with their troops.

30. It’s like a bunch of jocks in high school who copied each other’s homework because it was only like 5% of the final grade. Meanwhile, nerds like Maryland and New Mexico did extra credit.

31. Because they are easy to think of. The only good one is Virginia, and that’s because it has a boob on it and a dead tyrant.

32. Because its easy and its the state flag. No one cares that much generally.