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).

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811) was important in Mexico's War of Independence not only because of his role as founder of the movement and main caudillo in the first stage of the fight, but more than anything else because of the social dimension he gave to the revolt when he turned to the people as the principal agent of change and granted meaning, form, and a response to their hopes and demands.