Symbols of Sovereignty
The state has several symbols that represent its sovereignty and from where it was gained. The state House of Representatives has used a ceremonial mace since 1880. When the House is in session, the mace is placed in a specially designed rack in front of the Speaker of the House. The state Senate uses a Sword of State. The current Sword of State was a gift from Lord Halifax, a former British ambassador to the United States, and has been in use since 1951. The original Sword of State was obtained in 1704 and used by the Governor of the South Carolina Colony. The state flag originated to represent the militia that fought for independence in 1776. The Seal of South Carolina was adopted in 1776. The seals of the Senate and House incorporate the Sword of State and the Mace respectively.
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Famous quotes containing the words symbols of, symbols and/or sovereignty:
“There are those who would keep us slipping back into the darkness of division, into the snake pit of racial hatred, of racial antagonism and of support for symbols of the struggle to keep African-Americans in bondage.”
—Carol Moseley-Braun (b. 1947)
“The use of symbols has a certain power of emancipation and exhilaration for all men. We seem to be touched by a wand, which makes us dance and run about happily, like children. We are like persons who come out of a cave or cellar into the open air. This is the effect on us of tropes, fables, oracles, and all poetic forms. Poets are thus liberating gods.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o’er his base into the sea,
And there assume some other horrible form
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason,
And draw you into madness?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)