History Unofficial flags (before 1896) In 1854, the first state flag was displayed over statehouse. It was very similar to the American flag. It had 13 stripes of red and white containing a blue canton with the state's coat of arms in the middle bearing 31 stars around it. During the
Civil War, state troops carried with them regimental flags bearing the states coat of arms. A state flag was displayed at the
Battle of Kings Mountain Centennial in
South Carolina, on October 7, 1880. Its design is unknown. On June 28, 1884 a state flag bearing the coat of arms of state was raised over the
Freehold's Court-House. In 1889, Governor Green flew a state flag from his yacht
Meteor. It was never described. In 1891, a state flag was flown in front of Governor Leon Abbett mansion. In 1893, it was described as bearing the coat of arms of the state on its field.
Official flags (1896–present) Ideas for adopting of a state flag started in 1894. According to the minutes of the
New Jersey General Assembly for May 11, 1896, the date on which the Assembly officially adopted the flag, the
buff color is due indirectly to
George Washington, who had ordered on September 14, 1779, that the uniform coats of the
New Jersey Continental Line be dark (
Jersey) blue, with buff facings. Buff-colored facings had until then been reserved only for his own uniform and those of other Continental generals and their aides. Then, on February 14, 1780, the Continental War Officers in Philadelphia directed that the uniform coat facings of all regiments were to be the same as the background color of the regiments' state flag. File:New Jersey Naval Militia Flag (1902).png|Digital reconstruction of New Jersey's Naval Militia flag, 1902 File:Flag of New Jersey (1912).png|Digital reconstruction of state flag flown outside Governor Woodrow Wilson's residence, 1912 In 1902, Commander Washington Irving of state Naval Militia flew the Militia's pennant from the
USS Portsmouth, which caused a controversy with US Naval command who ordered the pennant down from the masthead. The flag was later allowed to fly again. It was described as having a blue field with state coat of arms in the middle. On the night of September 23, 1912 three men drove to
Governor Woodrow Wilson's mansion. Their plan was to steal the state flag flying from flag pole in front, but the sound of the car woke up the Governor's son-in-law who went outside to confronted the thieves. The men instantly ran when they saw him and made it back to their car then drove off. The state flag was described as being similar to
National flag but with the state's coat of arms in the
canton instead of stars. The whole thing measured around 12 feet (3.6 m) wide and 20 feet (6 m) long. In 1920, President Woodrow Wilson went to
Wildwood for a Veterans event. During the event a unique state flag was displayed. The flag had a yellow field with the state coat of arms in the middle.
Design The
flag of the state of New Jersey includes the coat of arms of the state on a buff-colored background. In a 1965 law, the specific color shades of Jersey blue and buff were defined by the state. Using the Cable color system developed by the
Color Association of the United States, Jersey Blue was defined as Cable No. 70087; Buff was defined as Cable No. 65015. The Office of the
Secretary of State of New Jersey gives the blue and buff color hexadecimal equivalents as #2484C6 and #E1B584, respectively.
Flag proposals NJ Advance Media and NJ.com ran a contest in 2016 to create a new flag for New Jersey, with nearly 400 designs being submitted. A panel of five judges narrowed the submissions down to ten finalists, which were then put to a public vote, with the official result based on the number of votes each design had after voting closed on March 6. A winning design by Andrew Maris of
Fair Haven was chosen, but no legislative action has been taken to authorize a new flag. New Jersey Flag Proposal 2016.svg|Winner - Andrew Maris Proposed flag of New Jersey (2016) - 3rd place.svg|Third place - C. Erickson Proposed flag of New Jersey (2016) - 4th place.svg|Fourth place - Marmocet Proposed flag of New Jersey (2016) - 6th place.svg|Sixth place - Andrew Zega Proposed flag of New Jersey (2016) - 7th place.svg|Seventh place - Andrew Jones Proposed flag of New Jersey (2016) - 8th place.svg|Eighth place - Kenneth Huang Proposed flag of New Jersey (2016) - 9th place.svg|Ninth place - Dave Martucci Proposed flag of New Jersey (2016) - 10th place.svg|Tenth place - Joe Conklin
Other flags File:Flag of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.svg|Flag of the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey File:New Jersey Tricentennial Flag.svg|New Jersey Tricentennial Flag, designed in 1964 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the establishment of the
Province of New Jersey ==Government seals of New Jersey==