What is America’s national motto? It is found on all U.S. coins and paper currency: “In God We Trust.”
Since America’s earliest days, there has been a recognition that God has played an essential role in helping to shape the character of the country. The Founding Fathers’ core belief was that our rights come from God, not kings. Their writings and speeches make constant references to God and the role the Divine plays in American society.
Unsurprisingly, during America’s darkest hours, someone suggested recognizing God in the currency. A Pennsylvania minister named M.R. Watkinson wrote the following letter to President Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase at the beginning of the Civil War:
November 13, 1861
Dear Sir: You are about to submit your annual report to the Congress respecting the affairs of the national finances.
One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins.
You are probably a Christian. What if our Republic were not shattered beyond reconstruction? Would not the antiquaries of succeeding centuries rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation? What I propose is that instead of the goddess of liberty we shall have next inside the 13 stars a ring inscribed with the words PERPETUAL UNION; within the ring the allseeing eye, crowned with a halo; beneath this eye the American flag, bearing in its field stars equal to the number of the States united; in the folds of the bars the words GOD, LIBERTY, LAW.
This would make a beautiful coin, to which no possible citizen could object. This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed. From my hearth I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters.
To you first I address a subject that must be agitated.
In response, Secretary Chase instructed the U.S. Mint to come up with a motto that reflected the notion that “no nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense.” Although never confirmed, it is believed by many that “In God We Trust” was taken from the fourth stanza of Francis Scott Key’s The Star-Spangled Banner: “Then conquer we must, when our cause is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.'” On April 22, 1864, Congress passed legislation authorizing the phrase “In God We Trust” on coins. It made its first appearance on two-cent coins issued later the same year.
Between 1864 and 1957, the motto appeared on many coins but not others. This was rectified in 1955 when Congress passed a law requiring the motto on all U.S. currency. Representative Charles E. Bennett of Florida introduced the legislation stating, “Nothing can be more certain than that our country was founded in a spiritual atmosphere and with a firm trust in God.” In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation making “In God We Trust” the official national motto of the United States. The following year, the motto appeared on paper currency for the first time. “In God We Trust” continues to be a reminder of the many blessings Americans possess.