Alabama shall have an official coat of arms which shall be as follows: a
shield upon which is carried the flags of four of the five nations which have
at various times held sovereignty over a part or the whole of what is now the
State of Alabama: Spain, France, Great Britain and the Confederacy. The union
binding these flags shall be the shield of the United States. The shield upon which
the flags and shield of the United States are placed shall be supported on
either side by an eagle. The crest of the coat of arms shall be a ship
representing the "Badine" which brought the French colonists who
established the first permanent white settlements in the state. Beneath the
shield there shall be a scroll containing the sentence in Latin: "Audemus
jura nostra defendere," the English interpretation of which is "We
Dare Maintain Our Rights." The word "Alabama" shall appear
beneath the state motto.