This coat of arms shows in the centre a classic shield with the point downwards and closed at the top by a triangle with the point downwards, in the national colours. In the centre of the shield 6 flagstaffs, 4 dominican flags bound together at the bottom in a knot, on which an open bible rests and above the bible is a golden cross.
On the left there is a laurel-branch (inmortality) and on the right a palm-branch (liberty), kept together by a small red ribbon which symbolizes glory. Above the small ribbon is a big red ribbon bearing the name of the country "República Dominicana", and at the top of the coat of arms you see a blue ribbon with the essential words of the Dominican patriotism: "Dios, Patria, Libertad" meaning "God, Fatherland, Liberty".
Adoption date of the coat of arms as well as the flag is November the 6th of 1844.

From it's creation (1844) till 1913 the design has had many different variations. During the first years after the independence you barely could find two equal coat of arms.

The first coat of arms had two laurel-branches at the outside and below them, forming an arc, appeared a snake biting and swallowing his tail (sign of eternal evolution). In the background you saw in the center an open evangelical Bible and behind it a trophy of arms (a lance and a rifle with bayonet on the right, and on the left a sable and a clarion). Above the Bible the Dominican flag. In the foreground at the bottom, was a broad ribbon with the words "República Dominicana". In the centre there were two Dominican flags and where the flagstaffs cross was a Phrygian cap (symbol of liberty). Underneath the arm there were two cannons, one on each side, and each of them had their own spherical cannon-balls piled up in the form of a pyramid.

Successive constitutions, laws and decreets modified the structure of the coat of arms: they eliminated the cannons (constitution of November the 6th of 1844), replaced one laurel-branch first by a vine in 1848 and in 1853 by a palm-branch, the flag in the center was replaced by a cross (1853), they eliminated the trophy of arms, the Phrygian cap and the snake, and placed two extra crossed flags, etc.

Although the variation of arms appeared in the period between 1844 till 1913, it didn't mean that the most recent replaced the former. They used different variations even in official documents and sometimes they combined one with the other or even left out some details. Everytime they reformed the constitution, little corrections were made in the description of the arm.

But in 1913 they officialized a heraldic uniformity by the decree of February the 6th of 1913, expidited by the government of Monsignor Nouel, who established the actual form. In the same decree appeared a design by Casimiro de Moya, which represented the "Great Seal of the Nation".

Next to the form the above-mentioned decree speaks in the second article of the actual colours: ultramarine blue and vermilion red.

The Dominican Constitution from 1916 talks about the evangelical Bible in the middle of the weapon and opened to the gospel of John, chapter XIII. The Constitution from 2010 talks about the Bible, situated in the middle and opened to the gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 32.
Verse 31 reads: So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
Verse 32 reads: and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."