History of the Arizona State Motto
When President Abraham Lincoln signed the Organic Act in 1863, the United States formally recognized Arizona as a territory and allowed a territorial government to form. President Lincoln appointed Richard Cunningham McCormick of New York as the Secretary of the Territory. McCormick, a writer and journalist by trade, brought along his own printing press to preserve a library and design an Arizona Territorial seal.
McCormick’s seal depicted a miner in front of a wheelbarrow with a pick and a short handled spade. He also included the motto, Ditat Deus. The seal was changed many times, primarily because the first looked like the Pioneer Baking Powder logo. However one thing always remained a part of the seal: Ditat Deus.
Meaning of the Arizona State Motto
Ditat Deus is Latin for “God Enriches.” Author George Earlie Shankle ventured a guess that Arizona’s motto was “probably an abbreviation of Genesis, Chapter 14, verse 23, of the Latin Vulgate Version of the Bible.”
Since I am neither a theologian nor a student of the Latin Vulgate, I cannot speak to the authenticity of that theory. However, the verse translated into English does not make much sense of the theory. Genesis 14:23 in the King James Version: “That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich.” So I would submit a slightly different hypothesis.
It is no secret that the United States was founded in Christian and Biblical principles. Our money references God, our national motto is “In God We Trust,” and many of the Founding Fathers referred to God in some fashion in their writing or speeches. Arizona became an organized territory during one of the bloodiest wars our nation has seen, the Civil War. Given that time frame, a religious sentiment would not be out of the question. It is likely that McCormick, looking to the future of Arizona and seeing the state of the nation, chose a motto that encouraged the citizens to look forward with hope.
“God Enriches” is a beautiful statement not only of the resources in Arizona but a hopeful sentiment because of the grammatical tense. It was not past tense: God enriched but a constant, on-going tense.
More About the State of Arizona
God enriched the state of Arizona with amazing beauty. This western state, admitted into the union in 1912 as the 48th state, is home to Monument Valley, Window Rock, and of course, the Grand Canyon. The majestic views of the Canyon have drawn sightseers, hikers, and rafters for years.
U.S. Senator Jon Kyl once said of his home state, “We may or may not keep on tinkering with our seal from here on out; nonetheless, we are still building Arizona. The motto chosen by old McCormick 141 years ago – “God Enriches” – has been the one constant. I share the belief of Arizonans then and now, that in connecting our state with such an idea, McCormick was on to something.”
