Of 'In God We Trust'

The motto IN GOD WE TRUST was placed on United States coins largely because of the increased religious sentiment existing during the Civil War. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase received many appeals from devout persons throughout the country, urging that the United States recognize the Deity on United States coins. From Treasury Department records, it appears that the first such appeal came in a letter dated November 13, 1861. It was written to Secretary Chase by Rev. M. R. Watkinson, Minister of the Gospel from Ridleyville, Pennsylvania, and read:

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.

As a result, Secretary Chase instructed James Pollock, Director of the Mint at Philadelphia, to prepare a motto, in a letter dated November 20, 1861:

Dear Sir: No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins.

You will cause a device to be prepared without unnecessary delay with a motto expressing in the fewest and tersest words possible this national recognition.

It was found that the Act of Congress dated January 18, 1837, prescribed the mottoes and devices that should be placed upon the coins of the United States. This meant that the mint could make no changes without the enactment of additional legislation by the Congress. In December 1863, the Director of the Mint submitted designs for new one-cent coin, two-cent coin, and three-cent coin to Secretary Chase for approval. He proposed that upon the designs either OUR COUNTRY; OUR GOD or GOD, OUR TRUST should appear as a motto on the coins. In a letter to the Mint Director on December 9, 1863, Secretary Chase stated:

I approve your mottoes, only suggesting that on that with the Washington obverse the motto should begin with the word OUR, so as to read OUR GOD AND OUR COUNTRY. And on that with the shield, it should be changed so as to read: IN GOD WE TRUST.

The Congress passed the Act of April 22, 1864. This legislation changed the composition of the one-cent coin and authorized the minting of the two-cent coin. The Mint Director was directed to develop the designs for these coins for final approval of the Secretary. IN GOD WE TRUST first appeared on the 1864 two-cent coin.

Another Act of Congress passed on March 3, 1865. It allowed the Mint Director, with the Secretary's approval, to place the motto on all gold and silver coins that "shall admit the inscription thereon." Under the Act, the motto was placed on the gold double-eagle coin, the gold eagle coin, and the gold half-eagle coin. It was also placed on the silver dollar coin, the half-dollar coin and the quarter-dollar coin, and on the nickel three-cent coin beginning in 1866. Later, Congress passed the Coinage Act of February 12, 1873. It also said that the Secretary "may cause the motto IN GOD WE TRUST to be inscribed on such coins as shall admit of such motto."

The use of IN GOD WE TRUST has not been uninterrupted. The motto disappeared from the five-cent coin in 1883, and did not reappear until production of the Jefferson nickel began in 1938. Since 1938, all United States coins bear the inscription. Later, the motto was found missing from the new design of the double-eagle gold coin and the eagle gold coin shortly after they appeared in 1907. In response to a general demand, Congress ordered it restored, and the Act of May 18, 1908, made it mandatory on all coins upon which it had previously appeared. IN GOD WE TRUST was not mandatory on the one-cent coin and five-cent coin. It could be placed on them by the Secretary or the Mint Director with the Secretary's approval.

The motto has been in continuous use on the one-cent coin since 1909, and on the ten-cent coin since 1916. It also has appeared on all gold coins and silver dollar coins, half-dollar coins, and quarter-dollar coins struck since July 1, 1908.

A law passed by the 84th Congress (P.L. 84-140) and approved by the President on July 30, 1956, the President approved a Joint Resolution of the 84th Congress, declaring IN GOD WE TRUST the national motto of the United States. IN GOD WE TRUST was first used on paper money in 1957, when it appeared on the one-dollar silver certificate. The first paper currency bearing the motto entered circulation on October 1, 1957. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) was converting to the dry intaglio printing process. During this conversion, it gradually included IN GOD WE TRUST in the back design of all classes and denominations of currency.

As a part of a comprehensive modernization program the BEP successfully developed and installed new high-speed rotary intaglio printing presses in 1957. These allowed BEP to print currency by the dry intaglio process, 32 notes to the sheet. One-dollar silver certificates were the first denomination printed on the new high-speed presses. They included IN GOD WE TRUST as part of the reverse design as BEP adopted new dies according to the law. The motto also appeared on one-dollar silver certificates of the 1957-A and 1957-B series.

BEP prints United States paper currency by an intaglio process from engraved plates. It was necessary, therefore, to engrave the motto into the printing plates as a part of the basic engraved design to give it the prominence it deserved.

One-dollar silver certificates series 1935, 1935-A, 1935-B, 1935-C, 1935-D, 1935-E, 1935-F, 1935-G, and 1935-H were all printed on the older flat-bed presses by the wet intaglio process. P.L. 84-140 recognized that an enormous expense would be associated with immediately replacing the costly printing plates. The law allowed BEP to gradually convert to the inclusion of IN GOD WE TRUST on the currency. Accordingly, the motto is not found on series 1935-E and 1935-F one-dollar notes. By September 1961, IN GOD WE TRUST had been added to the back design of the Series 1935-G notes. Some early printings of this series do not bear the motto. IN GOD WE TRUST appears on all series 1935-H one-dollar silver certificates.


Take God out and let's just see what Happens

ok who added in " So Help Me God " in the prez oath of office

G ood
O l
D ebt

ironic is it not

It is said George Washington...But there is not solid proof.

George Washington 1789 Genesis 49:131
George Washington 1793 Not known
John Adams 1797 Not known
Thomas Jefferson 1801, 1805 Not known
James Madison 1809, 1813 Not known
James Monroe 1817, 1821 Not known
John Q. Adams 1825 Not known
Andrew Jackson 1829, 1833 Not known
Martin Van Buren 1837 Proverbs 3:172
William H. Harrison 1841 Not known
John Tyler 1841 Not known
James K. Polk 1845 Not known
Zachary Taylor 1849 Not known
Millard Fillmore 1850 Not known
Franklin Pierce 1853 Affirmed instead of swearing the oath; did not kiss Bible
James Buchanan 1857 Not known
Abraham Lincoln 1861 Opened at random
Abraham Lincoln 1865 Matthew 7:1; 18:7; Revelations 16:73
Andrew Johnson 1865 Proverbs 21
Ulysses S. Grant 1869 Not known
Ulysses S. Grant 1873 Isaiah 11:1-34
Rutherford B. Hayes 1877 Privately, no Bible; publicly, Psalm 118:11-134
James A. Garfield 1881 Proverbs 21:14,5
Chester A. Arthur 1881 Privately, no Bible; Psalm 31:1-34,5
Grover Cleveland 1885 Psalm 112:4-10; Bible opened by Chief Justice and by chance it fell to this Psalm6
Benjamin Harrison 1889 Psalm 121:1-64
Grover Cleveland 1893 Psalm 91:12-164
William McKinley 1897 II Chron. 1:10; Bible given to him by Methodist church congregation7
William McKinley 1901 Proverbs 164
Theodore Roosevelt 1901 No Bible
Theodore Roosevelt 1905 James 1:22-234
William Howard Taft 1909 I Kings 3:9-114
Woodrow Wilson 1913 Psalm 1194
Woodrow Wilson 1917 Privately, not known; publicly, Psalm 468
Warren G. Harding 1921 Micah 6:8 (Washington Bible)4
Calvin Coolidge 1923 Not known
Calvin Coolidge 1925 John 1
Herbert C. Hoover 1929 Proverbs 29:184
Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933, 1937, 1941, 1945 I Corinthians 134
Harry S. Truman 1945 Closed Bible held in left hand; right hand on upper cover9
Harry S. Truman 1949 Matthew 5:3-11 and Exodus 20:3-1710
Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953 Psalm 127:1 (Washington Bible) and II Chronicles 7:14 (West Point Bible)11
Dwight D. Eisenhower 1957 Privately, not known; publicly, Psalm 33:1212 (West Point Bible)
John F. Kennedy 1961 Closed Bible13
Lyndon B. Johnson 1963 Missal14
Lyndon B. Johnson 1965 Closed family Bible15
Richard M. Nixon 1969, 1973 Two family Bibles, both open to Isaiah 2:416
Gerald R. Ford 1974 Proverbs 3:5-617
James E. Carter 1977 Family Bible open to Micah 6:818
Ronald W. Reagan 1981, 1985 Mother's Bible open to II Chronicles 7:1419 (Both privately and publicly in 1985)
George H. W. Bush 1989 Washington's Masonic Bible opened at random in the center; family Bible on top opened to Matthew 5
William J. Clinton 1993 King James Bible, given to him by grandmother, open to Galatians 6:8
William J. Clinton 1997 King James Bible, given to him by grandmother, open to Isaiah 58:1220
George W. Bush 2001 Closed family Bible21

No, it means: "In God We Trust,... Everyone Else Pays CASH!"

nope not on credit cards.