Adopted in 1915, revised 1969. White flag with the state flag emblem in the center, the word "ILLINOIS" underneath. Illinois was admitted as the 21st U.S. State in 1819. On a white field the flag displays elements from the state seal-a rock on a stretch of land with water and the rising sun behind it, and a shield bearing the national stars and stripes in the claws of a bald eagle. A ribbon in the beak of the eagle bears the state motto "State sovereignty-national union". The dates 1818 (for statehood) and 1868 (for the first use of the state seal) are shown on the rock beneath the eagle.
