The current Great Seal of Georgia was adopted by the State Constitution of 1798. 

On its  front side appear three pillars supporting an arch, emblematic of the three branches of government - the legislative, judicial and executive. A man stands with a drawn sword defending the Constitution whose principles are wisdom, justice and moderation.

The reverse of the Seal shows a ship with cotton and tobacco, and a man plowing, representing the agriculture and commerce of the Seal's motto. In 1914, the date on the Seal was changed from 1799 to 1776 to correspond with the date of the Declaration of Independence.

Georgia State Flag, 1956

In early 1955, Atlanta attorney John Sammons Bell (who later served as a judge on the Georgia Court of Appeals) suggested a new state flag for Georgia that would incorporate the Confederate Battle Flag. At the 1956 session of the General Assembly, state senators Jefferson Lee Davis and Willis Harden introduced Senate Bill 98 to change the state flag. Signed into law on February 13, 1956, the bill became effective the following July 1.

(Note:  This is the only flag this site recognizes as being the "true" flag of the people.)

First National Flag of the Confederacy, 1861-1863
"Stars and Bars"
 

Soon after formation of the Confederate States of America, delegates from the seceded states met as a provisional government in Montgomery, Alabama. Among the early actions was appointment of a committee to propose a new flag and seal for the Confederacy. The proposal adopted by the committee called for a flag consisting of a red field divided by a white band one-third the width of the field, thus producing three bars of equal width. The flag had a square blue union the height of two bars, on which was placed a circle of white stars corresponding in number to the states of the Confederacy--South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.

The First National Flag of the Confederacy soon came to be known as the "Stars and Bars." With seven stars at first, the number jumped to eleven with the secession of Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee, and finally to thirteen (in recognition of the symbolic admission of Kentucky and Missouri to the Confederacy). In some cases, the canton had a large star within the circle of stars. Also, at least two versions of the flag survive with Georgia's coat of arms in the center of the stars.

Confederate Battle Flag, 1861-1865
 

The similarity of the Stars and Bars to the Stars and Stripes was not an accident. As the war progressed, however, sentiment for keeping a reminder of the American flag diminished in the South. More importantly, during the first major battle of the Civil War at Bull Run near Manassas Junction, Virginia, it was hard to distinguish the two flags at a distance.

Consequently, Confederate generals P.G.T. Beauregard and Joseph Johnston urged that a new Confederate flag be designed for battle. The result was the square flag sometimes known as the "Southern Cross." The Confederate Battle Flag consisted of a blue saltire reminiscent of the St. Andrew's Cross, on which were situated 13 stars, with the saltire edged in white, all on a red background. A review of surviving Confederate Battle Flags shows that the stars were arranged in many ways, but the design above (with the central tip of each star pointing up) was the most common.