Depicts the seal of the United Mexican States.

The Seal of the United Mexican States is a modified version of the national coat of arms, with the addition of the full official name of the country Estados Unidos Mexicanos, in a semi-circular accommodation in the upper part of the seal. Current and past Mexican peso coinage have had the seal engraved on the obverse of all denominations.

The coat of arms depicts a Mexican golden eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus devouring a rattlesnake. To the people of Tenochtitlan this would have strong religious connotations, but to the Europeans, it would come to symbolize the triumph of good over evil (with the snake sometimes representative of the serpent in the Garden of Eden).

Carlos María de Bustamante (1774-1848) — lawyer, journalist, politician, and historian from Oaxaca, who, upon learning of the events that took place in Mexico City in 1808, sympathized profoundly with the cause of Independence. In light of possible political persecution he could be subject to for exercising his right to print news, Bustamante joined the insurgent forces of Morelos, published the Correo del Sur, and participated in sessions of the Chilpancingo Congress — in particular, in the editing of the act of Independence. For that, Bustamante was persecuted by the royalist forces until he was captured, in 1818, in San Juan de Ulúa. Pardoned the following year, Bustamante took up political activity again, confronted Iturbide, and went back to was imprisoned again until 1823, when he joined Congress. His work as an historian is also an important part of his legacy.