Latest / Nebraska History Podcast / Origins of Nebraska's State Motto: Equality Before the Law

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Origins of Nebraska's State Motto: Equality Before the Law · Nebraska History Podcast

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  The following episode features a historic article from the
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  Nebraska History magazine. This article may reflect the
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  language and attitudes of its time and while it offers
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  valuable insight into the past, may content, expressions, or
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  viewpoints that are outdated or offensive by today's standards.
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  Any outdated terms do not reflect the current views or
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  perspectives of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
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  Welcome to the Nebraska History podcast.
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  I'm your host, Chris Goforth. Each episode we explore articles
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  written and published in Nebraska History Magazine.
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  March 1st is Statehood Day in Nebraska, and in 2026 the state
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  is celebrating 159 years as a State of the Union.
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  This bonus episode of the podcast takes a brief look at
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  the history behind the Nebraska state motto through the 2010
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  Nebraska History Magazine article Equality Before the Law.
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  Thoughts on the origin of Nebraska state motto written by
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  James E Potter Equality before the law.
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  Nebraska state motto is unique among the 50 states.
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  Only Wyoming's motto, Equal rights, expresses a similar
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  idea. Both mottos date from the post
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  Civil war years of the 1860s and both relate to the granting of
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  political and civil rights previously denied to certain
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  Americans. Most black men, free or slave,
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  and women of whatever racial background.
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  On June 14th, 1867, Governor David Butler signed HR 41, An
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  Act to provide for Procuring a Seal for the State of Nebraska.
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  Isaac Wiles, a member of the Nebraska House of
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  Representatives from Plattsmouth, Cass County,
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  introduced the Act as provided by Section 13 of Article 3 of
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  the 1866 State Constitution, which required a Great Seal of
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  the State of Nebraska for use by the Governor in the transaction
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  of official business. HR 41 specified the seals design
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  and the motto that was to appear thereon, Equality before the
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  Law. Surely before his death on
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  January 20th, 1921, Wiles recalled the genesis of the
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  motto. He had proposed 2 alternative
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  phrases, one being equality before the law and the other
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  equal rights for all. Before introducing the bill, he
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  consulted with Elmer S Dundy, later famous as the presiding
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  judge in the Standing Bear trial and formerly an Associate
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  Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court.
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  Dundee preferred the former phrase.
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  Accordingly, Equality Before the Law was adopted as the motto
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  that appears on the Great Seal, the state flag, and on the east
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  and West pylons flanking the north entrance to the Nebraska
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  State Capitol building. Wiles also said that the motto
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  did not refer to slavery or to granting equal rights to both
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  black and white Nebraskans. Addison E Sheldon of the
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  Nebraska State Historical Society later wrote quote.
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  His impression was distinct that it originated from the early
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  controversies over land locations in the Missouri River
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  counties and was inspired by the frontier sentiment in favor of
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  giving every man an equal chance to secure a home on the public
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  domain. End Quote.
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  Considering the political issues dominating Nebraska and national
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  politics in 1866 and 1867, and a statement Wiles made in 1892, it
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  is clear that the 90 year old man's memory deceived him in the
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  1920s when he reflected on his reasons for proposing Equality
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  before the law as the state motto.
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  Fewer than four months before the motto's adoption, Congress
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  had forced the Nebraska Legislature to remove a whites
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  only voting restriction from the state constitution as a
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  condition for approving Nebraska statehood.
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  At the time, only men were afforded voting rights.
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  When the legislature agreed to Congress's fundamental condition
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  during a special session in February 1867, Wiles was among
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  its members. The legislature's decision was
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  certainly a concession to Equality before the law as it
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  applied to male suffrage. Nebraska was subsequently
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  admitted as the 37th state on March 1st, 1867, little more
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  than a year before the motto was adopted by the state
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  legislature. Nebraska Republicans gathered in
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  Plattsmouth on April 12th, 1866 to nominate candidates for a
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  special June 2nd election to choose a state governor, a
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  Secretary of State, and State legislators.
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  If the voters adopted the Constitution being submitted at
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  the same election, the machinery for a state government would be
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  in place pending approval of Nebraska's admission by Congress
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  and the President. In addition to passing several
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  resolutions outlining why they believed statehood would benefit
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  Nebraska, the delegates to the April 12th, 1866 convention
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  adopted a final resolution proclaiming the Republicans
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  guiding philosophy. Quote.
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  Resolved. That the party which has
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  triumphantly sustained and vindicated the government of the
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  United States and carried it safely through four years of
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  sanguinary war waged by the enemies of civil and religious
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  liberty, owes to itself, to its parish principles, and to
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  humanity to secure liberty and equality before the law to all
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  men. End Quote.
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  Although Isaac Wiles is not mentioned in news accounts as
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  being a delegate to the April Convention, he may have well
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  attended the event which not only represented his political
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  affiliation, but which also was held in his hometown.
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  If he did not attend, he no doubt read the convention
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  resolutions which were wildly published in territorial
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  newspapers. A week after the Republican
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  convention, Nebraska Democrats assembled in Nebraska City.
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  Their convention resolutions were very different from those
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  of the Republicans. The Democrats remained silent
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  about Nebraska statehood. They endorse President Andrew
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  Johnson's conservative states rights Reconstruction policy and
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  a statement attributed to him. Quote, This is and shall be a
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  government of white men for white men.
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  End Quote. Both conventions were reacting
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  to a political firestorm created by Johnson's battle with
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  Congress over the terms for bringing the former rebel states
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  back into the Union. The president and most Democrats
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  favored a lenient policy toward the South, which many
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  Republicans, particularly those known as Radical Republicans,
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  thought likely to ensure white political supremacy and the
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  continued denial of civil rights to emancipated slaves.
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  When Johnson in March of 1866 vetoed a Civil Rights Act that
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  defined blacks as U.S. citizens and affirmed their right to
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  enjoy, quote, full and equal benefit of the law and
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  proceedings for the security of person and property as it's
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  enjoyed by white citizens, and, quote, the Radical Republicans
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  were outraged. Although Congress passed the
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  civil rights bill over the president's veto, the Republican
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  majority concluded that only a constitutional amendment would
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  guarantee rights and security for the freed men.
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  On June 13th, 1866, Congress approved a joint resolution
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  presenting the 14th Amendment to the states for ratification.
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  Ratification of the amendment by the former rebel states would be
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  a prerequisite for the readmission of their senators
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  and representatives to Congress. The amendment defined all native
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  born or naturalized citizens, including freed slaves, as
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  citizens. It also included the Due Process
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  Clause and prohibited states from denying to any person quote
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  the equal protection of the laws.
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  End Quote. During the same session,
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  Congress passed an act admitting Nebraska to the Union, which
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  President Johnson killed by his pocket veto after Congress
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  adjourned on July 28th. Consequently, Nebraska remained
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  a territory, and both parties had to nominate candidates for
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  the territorial legislature, for territorial delegates to
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  Congress, and for other territorial offices, which they
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  did at party conventions held that fall.
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  It seems certain that statehood would be achieved during the
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  next session of Congress, so both parties also named
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  candidates for the state legislature and for Nebraska's
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  pending seat in Congress. 2US Senators had already been chosen
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  at a session for the state legislature that convene on July
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  4th, 1866, following approval of the state constitution at the
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  June 2nd election. With the exception of naming
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  different nominees for Territorial Delegate and
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  Congressman, the latter to take office upon statehood, the
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  Republicans on September 6th chose the same men to run for
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  both the territorial and state legislators as its platform.
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  The party endorsed the pending 14th Amendment, which was also
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  the Republican platform. Nationally.
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  The Nebraska party newspapers published the amendment in each
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  issue prior to the October 9th election.
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  Isaac Wiles was nominated for and won election to the Nebraska
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  House of Representatives from Cass County.
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  He served in the 12th and final session of the Territorial
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  Legislature, which met in January 1867, as well as the two
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  special state legislative sessions that convened on
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  February 20th and May 16th, respectively.
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  Because Governor Alvin Saunders was absent when the 12th
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  Legislature convened, Territorial Secretary and Acting
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  Governor Algernon S Paddock delivered the message.
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  He took the opportunity to question the wisdom of requiring
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  the former Confederate states to ratify the 14th Amendment as a
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  condition for their readmission. Paddock believed that adoption
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  of this amendment quote threatens to perpetuate hatreds,
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  strife, and discord. End Quote.
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  Nevertheless, the legislature passed a resolution favoring the
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  14th Amendment and promising to ratify it when Nebraska was
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  granted statehood. Because the Republicans had a
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  legislative majority and the same Republicans would sit in
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  the forthcoming state legislature, this was no idle
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  promise. Following Nebraska's admission
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  on March 1st, 1867, Governor Butler called the state
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  legislature into session on May 16th to enact general laws for
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  the new state government. Among the measures the Governor
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  presented for legislative action was ratification of the 14th
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  Amendment by extending citizenship to all native born
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  or naturalized persons and prohibiting, quote, the denial
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  of the equal protection of the laws to any such person and
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  quote, said the governor. The amendment quote, accepts
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  fully and forever vindicates by the solemn pledge of a nation
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  the idea that was the cornerstone of American
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  independence and quote. On June 15th, 1867, the day
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  after the governor signed the bill adopting the state seal and
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  its motto, the legislature ratified the 14th Amendment,
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  making Nebraska the 24th state to do so.
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  The vote marked the first time Nebraska had joined her sister
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  states in the constitutional amendment process.
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  The amendment became part of the US Constitution when South
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  Carolina ratified it on July 9th, 1868, signaling its
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  approval by the required 3/4 majority of all the states.
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  Nebraska historian Albert Watkins suggested that Isaac
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  Wiles likely drew his idea for the motto from the old legal
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  maxim quote all men are equal before the natural law.
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  End Quote. The battles between Congress and
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  the President over Reconstruction and civil rights
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  for freed men, and the maxim's incorporation of the 14th
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  Amendment as equal protection of the laws, however, gave it new
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  relevance and moved it to the forefront of national politics.
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  The Nebraska Republicans had articulated A succinct version
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  of this maxim in their 1866 resolutions.
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  Nebraska was the first and only state to grant suffrage to black
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  men under a specific mandate imposed by Congress.
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  The subsequent ratification of the 15th Amendment to the United
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  States Constitution in 1870 prohibited the denial of the
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  elective franchise in any state on the grounds of race, color,
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  or previous condition of servitude.
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  The amendment did not, however, prevent the later
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  disenfranchisement of African Americans in most of the
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  southern states through the use of literacy or property
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  qualifications. In 1920, when Isaac Wiles
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  recalled his role in the adoption of the state motto and
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  said it was inspired by sentiments favoring an equal
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  right to claim public land, he had evidently forgotten both the
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  context in which Nebraska statehood was achieved and a
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  statement he made in 1892 about the motto's genesis.
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  On May 25th and 26th, 1892, Nebraskans who had participated
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  in the transition from territory to state in 1867, gathered at
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  the Capitol building in Lincoln to observe statehood silver
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  anniversary and offer their recollections.
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  When it came to his time to speak quote, Mr. Wiles told how
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  he had the honor to introduce the bill which defined the
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  design on the Great Seal of Nebraska and that in his mind
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  the words equality before the law, which are made of part of
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  the seal, meant and should be made to include a guarantee to
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  the women, the right of suffrage.
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  End Quote. Without a doubt, the motto
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  adopted in 1867 recognized Nebraska's important
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  contribution in the struggle to grant Black Americans a basic
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  civil right. Thank you for listening to the
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  Nebraska History Podcast. To learn more about Nebraska
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  History Magazine, to listen to more podcast episodes, or to
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  support our podcast by becoming a member of the Nebraska State
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  Historical Society, go to history.nebraska.gov/podcast.
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  And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and get notified
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  when we release new episodes on your favorite podcast platform.
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  Until next time, I'm Chris Goforth.