On this day in 1858, Minnesota becomes the 32nd state in the Union.
Here is the Preamble to the Constitution of the State of Minnesota:
“We, the people of the state of Minnesota, grateful to God for our civil and religious liberty, and desiring to perpetuate its blessings and secure the same to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution.”
The state flag, seen below, features the state seal. The state motto L’Étoile du Nord, is a French phrase meaning The Star of the North. Minnesota’s first governor, Henry Hastings Sibley, chose this phrase.
True North Star
In his first inaugural address, Sibley said “To Almighty God we should express our gratitude, that we have been preserved in our transition from a Territorial to a State Government[.]”
Then, he concluded by stating his “highest ambition” in conducting the affairs of the state was to not depart “from those principles of integrity and sound democratic policy, which have been the means, under Providence, of placing the American Union in the high position it now holds in the estimation of the world.”
Today, let’s get back to following our true north, aka our lost founding, in order to regain that high position.
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