In God We Trust: Our Official National Motto

On this day in 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the law establishing In God We Trust as the official motto of the United States. The motto had been in use, unofficially, since 1864.

First, however, in 1863, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase wrote this to the Mint Director:
“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 IS OUR TRUST.”

Then, he lined through “IS OUR” and wrote “WE” above it.

It was on Flag Day in 1954 when Eisenhower signed the bill to include “under God” in the pledge he said:

“In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war.”

His sentiments in the above statement helps us understand his resolve to establish Our National Motto.

Despite the assertion of some that “E Pluribus Unum” is Our motto, today is the 65th anniversary of “In God We Trust” as Our Official Motto, and it’s worth celebrating.

In fact, a couplet from the final stanza of Our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” containing a variation of the motto, inspired Our “Star-Spangled Motto” t-shirt design:

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”