"In God We Trust" (also rendered as "In God we trust") is the United States national motto, as well as the official motto of the U.S. state of Florida, and the nation of Nicaragua (Spanish: En Dios confiamos). It was adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1956, via a joint resolution, replacing ("Out of many, one"), which had been the de facto motto since the initial design of the Great Seal of the United States. It was signed in law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. National mottoUnited States Public Law 84-851, United States Public Law 84-851. The phrase first appeared on U.S. coins in 1864.
The fourth stanza of the U.S. national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner", adopted from the 1814 poem "The Defence of Fort M'Henry", contains the line: "And this be our motto—'In God is our trust'". Written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key (and later adopted as the U.S. national anthem on March 3, 1931, by U.S. President Herbert Hoover), the song contains an early reference to a variation of the phrase.50th Anniversary of Our National Motto, "In God We Trust," 2006, Proclamation of George W. Bush, White House. The origins of "In God We Trust" as a political motto lie in the American Civil War, where Union supporters wanted to emphasize their attachment to God and to boost morale.
The capitalized form "IN GOD WE TRUST" first appeared on the two-cent piece in 1864 and initially only appeared on coins, but it gradually became accepted among Americans. Much wider adoption followed in the 1950s. The first postage stamps with the motto appeared in 1954. A law passed in July 1955 by a joint resolution of the 84th Congress () and approved by President Dwight Eisenhower requires that "In God We Trust" appear on all American currency. This law was first implemented on the updated one-dollar silver certificate that entered circulation on October 1, 1957. The 84th Congress later passed legislation (), also signed by President Eisenhower on July 30, 1956, declaring the phrase to be the national motto. Several states have also mandated or authorized its use in public institutions or schools. Florida, Georgia and Mississippi have incorporated the phrase in some of their state symbols. The motto has also been used in some cases in other countries, most notably on Nicaragua's coins.
The motto remains popular among the American public, as most polls indicate. Some groups and people in the United States, however, have objected to its use, contending that its religious reference violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. These groups believe the phrase should be removed from currency and public property, which has resulted in numerous lawsuits. This argument has not overcome the interpretational doctrine of accommodationism and the notion of "ceremonial deism". The former allows the government to endorse religious establishments as long as they are all treated equally, while the latter states that a repetitious invocation of a religious entity in ceremonial matters strips the phrase of its original religious connotation. The New Hampshire Supreme Court, as well as the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits, have all upheld the constitutionality of the motto in various settings. The Supreme Court has discussed the motto in footnotes but has never directly ruled on its compliance with the U.S. constitution.
Origins The earliest recorded usage of the motto in English was in January 1748, when The Pennsylvania Gazette reported on the colours of Associators regiments, namely that of Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania militia, one of which said: "IX. A Coronet and Plume of Feathers. Motto, ." According to Thomas S. Kidd, an American historian, this appears to be an isolated instance of an official usage, which could be traced to some renderings of .
The precise phrase, "In God We Trust" is also found in a publication of Isaac Watts' Psalter which was revised and printed in the United States in 1785. Watts had translated with the words, "Britain, trust the Lord." An American publisher, Joel Barlow, sought to revise Watts' Psalter for an American audience. Barlow's goal was to modify Watts in such a way as to purge the un-American flavor. Barlow simply translated Psalm 115:9–11 with the words "In God we Trust."There were several other unrelated recordings of the motto. It can be encountered in some literary works of the early 19th century. One of them, "Defence of Fort M'Henry", contained a version of the motto and subsequently became the national anthem of the United States. It also appeared in 1845, when D.S. Whitney published an anti-slavery hymn in The Liberator. Odd Fellows have also used the phrase as their motto from the 1840s at least into the 1870s.
Motto on U.S. currency Initial adoption In a letter dated November 13, 1861, Rev. Mark R. Watkinson of Ridleyville, Pennsylvania (pastor of the Prospect Hill Baptist Church in present-day Prospect Park), petitioned the Treasury Department to add a statement recognizing "Almighty God in some form on our coins" in order to "relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism". At least part of the motivation was to declare that God was on the Union side of the Civil War, given that the Confederacy's constitution, unlike the Union's, invoked God. This sentiment was shared by other citizens who supported such inclusion in their letters. Indeed, the 125th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment of the Union Army assumed the motto "In God we trust" in early August 1862.
In the South, the phrase has also gained significant traction. A Confederate bunting with "In God We Trust" printed in the center, dated to late 1861 or early 1862 and attributed to the 37th Arkansas Infantry Regiment, was probably captured by the 33rd Iowa Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Helena and is currently in possession of the Iowa Historical Society. Another flag with exactly the same motto, this time of the 60th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, was captured in the course of the Battle of Big Black River Bridge. Additionally, in 1864, Harper's Weekly reported that the Union Navy had captured a flag whose motto said: "Our cause is just, our duty we know; In God we trust, to battle we go." Other Confederate symbols included close paraphrasing of the motto, such as the banner of the Apalachicola Guard of Florida (In God is our trust) and "The Star-Spangled Cross and the Pure Field of White", a popular song in the Southern military whose refrain contains the following passage: "Our trust is in God, who can help us in fight, And defend those who ask Him in prayer."
President Abraham Lincoln's Treasury Secretary, Salmon P. Chase, a lifelong evangelical Episcopalian who was known for his public shows of piety, acted swiftly on the proposal to include a motto referring to God and directed the then-Philadelphia Director of the Mint and member of the National Reform Association, James Pollock, to begin drawing up possible designs that would include the religious phrase. Chase chose his favorite designs and presented a proposal to the Congress for the new designs in late 1863. He then decided on the final version of the new motto, "In God We Trust," in December 1863. (Referencing H. Rept. No. 1959, 84th Cong., 2d Sess. (1956) and S. Rept. No. 2703, 84th Cong., 2d Sess. (1956), 2.) Walter H. Breen, a numismatist, wrote that Chase drew inspiration from the motto of Brown University of Providence, Rhode Island, In Deo speramus, which is Latin for a similarly sounding "In God we hope". President Lincoln's degree of involvement in the process of the motto's approval is unclear, though he was aware of such talks.
As Chase was preparing his recommendation to Congress, it was found that the federal legislature passed a bill on January 18, 1837, which determined the mottos and devices that should be stamped on U.S. coins. This meant that enactment of some additional legislation was necessary before "In God We Trust" could be engraved. Such a bill was introduced and passed as the Coinage Act of 1864 on April 22, 1864, allowing the Secretary of the Treasury to authorize the inclusion of the phrase on one-cent and two-cent coins.
On March 3, 1865, the U.S. Congress passed a bill, which Lincoln subsequently signed as the last act of Congress prior to his assassination, that allowed the Mint Director to place "In God We Trust" on all gold and silver coins that "shall admit the inscription thereon", subject to the Secretary's approval. In 1873, Congress passed another Coinage Act, granting the Secretary of the Treasury the right to "cause the motto 'IN GOD WE TRUST' to be inscribed on such coins as shall admit of such motto".
In God We Trust (or, rarely, its variation, God We Trust) first appeared on 2¢ coins, which were first minted in 1863 and went into mass circulation the following year. According to David W. Lange, a numismatist, the inclusion of the motto on a coin was a major driver for the popularisation of the slogan. Other coins, that is, nickels, quarter dollars, half dollars, half eagles and eagles, have had In God We Trust engraved from 1866 on. Dollar coins got the motto in 1873 for trade dollars and 1878 for common circulation Morgan dollars. However, there was no obligation for the motto to be used, so some denominations still didn't have it. Others, such as nickels, have seen the phrase disappear after a redesign, so that by the late 19th century, most of the coins did not bear the motto. Finally, in 1892, an oversight caused the Coinage Act to lose the language which mandated inclusion of the phrase.
Banknotes did not have formal authorization, or mandate, to have "In God We Trust" engraved until 1955. However, a version of the motto (In God Is Our Trust) first made a brief appearance on the obverse side of the 1864 $20 interest-bearing and compound interest treasury notes, along with the motto "God and our Right".
Reactions The initial reaction of the general populace was far from unanimous approval. On the one hand, Christian newspapers were generally happy with the phrase being included in coins, though some advocated for more religiously connoted mottos, such as "In God alone is our trust" or "God our Christ". On the other, non-religious press was less impressed by the developments. The New York Times editorial board asked to "let us try to carry our religion—such as it is—in our hearts, and not in our pockets." and criticized the Mint for including the motto only on golden and larger silver coins. New York Illustrated News ridiculed the new coins for marking "the first time that God has ever been recognized on any of our counters of Mammon," with a similar comparison made by the Detroit Free Press. The different opinions on its inclusion eventually grew into a dispute between secularists and faith congregations. Others still started to make jokes of "In God We Trust". The American Journal of Numismatics suggested that people would misread the motto as "In Gold we Trust", which they said was "much nearer the fact". Newspapers also started reporting on puns made of the slogan. Already in 1860s, newspapers reported signs reading "In God we Trust – terms cash," "In God we trust. All others are expected to pay cash" and the like.
The phrase, however, gradually became a symbol of national pride. Just six years after it first appeared on coins, the San Francisco Chronicle called it "our nation's motto"; similarly, groups as diverse as prohibitionists and suffragists, pacifists and nativists, Democrats and Republicans, Christians and Jews all adopted the motto or endorsed its usage by the end of the 19th century. The motto stayed popular even as fewer denominations had "In God We Trust" embossed on coins.
1907 Saint-Gaudens coins controversy