Flag of Massachusetts

A flag with a pine tree on the back

During the colonial period, Massachusetts ships flew a marine flag, but the Secretary of the Commonwealth says it was not an official state flag. The first statutory state flag was adopted in 1908. It showed the coat of arms on the front and a green pine tree, a reminder of the early lumber trade, on the back.

In 1971 a new law required the coat of arms on both sides of a white field. It was approved in June 1971 and took effect on November 1, 1971. Flags made in the older style are still considered valid. The pine tree lives on separately: Massachusetts also has a naval and maritime flag, a green pine tree on white.

What the arms show

The coat of arms dates back to symbols of the colonial era. The Massachusetts Bay Colony’s seal of 1629 showed a Native American, and that imagery carried into the state’s emblems. The official drawing used today was made in 1898 by the artist Edmund H. Garrett.

• The shield. Blue, with a gold figure of a Native American modeled on the Algonquian peoples, wearing a shirt, leggings and moccasins.
• The bow and arrow. He holds a bow in his right hand and an arrow pointing down in his left; the downward arrow is described as a sign of peace.
• The star. A white five-pointed star above his right arm marks Massachusetts as one of the original thirteen states.
• The crest. A bent arm in a ruffled sleeve gripping a broadsword, illustrating the motto.
• The motto. On a blue ribbon: Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem, “By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.” It is the second of two lines attributed to the English political writer Algernon Sidney around 1659, and the Provincial Congress adopted it in 1775.

The Secretary of the Commonwealth says there is no way now to tell why the flag’s colors were chosen.

The redesign debate

Many people, including Native American leaders, have criticized the coat of arms, especially the sword raised above the Native figure. In January 2021 Governor Charlie Baker signed a law creating a special commission to study changing the seal, flag and motto. Its 2023 final report included survey results but proposed no designs.

A 2024 law created a second body, the Massachusetts Seal, Flag, and Motto Advisory Commission. It took public submissions in 2025 and in late August named nine finalists, three each for the flag, the seal and the motto. The process then stalled: commission members, including all four Native American members, objected to the finalists, and public hearings planned for the fall were cancelled. The commission missed its December 2025 deadline, which was extended to December 15, 2026. Any final recommendation would go to the governor, and a new law would be needed to adopt new symbols. Until then, the 1971 flag remains official.