The modern motto of the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, as established in a 1956 law signed by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

, is "

In God we trust "In God We Trust" (also rendered as "In God we trust") is the United States national motto, official motto of the United States and of the U.S. state of Florida. It was adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1956, replacing ("Out of many, one"), whic ...

".{{cite web, url=http://www.treasury.gov/about/education/Pages/in-god-we-trust.aspx , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310163407/http://www.treasury.gov/about/education/Pages/in-god-we-trust.aspx , archive-date=2011-03-10 , title=U.S. on the History of "In God We Trust", publisher=United States Department of the Treasury, access-date=2009-04-22United States Public Law 84-851
United States Public Law 84-851. The phrase first appeared on U.S. coins in 1864.

History

The 1956 law was the first establishment of an official motto for the country, although ''

E pluribus unum ''E pluribus unum'' ( , , ) – Latin for "Out of many, one" (also translated as "One out of many" or "One from many") – is a traditional motto of the United States, appearing on the Great Seal along with ''Annuit cœptis'' (Latin for "he ...

'' ("Out of many, one") was adopted by an

Act of Congress An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. Acts may apply only to individual entities (called Public and private bills, private laws), or to the general public (Public and private bills, public laws). For a Bill (law) ...

in 1782 as the motto for the Seal of the United States and has been used on coins and paper money since 1795. A phrase similar to "In God we trust" appears in the final stanza of "

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...

". Written in 1814 by

Francis Scott Key Francis Scott Key (August 1, 1779January 11, 1843) was an American lawyer, author, and amateur poet from Frederick, Maryland, who wrote the lyrics for the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner". Key observed the British bombardment ...

(and later adopted as the U.S. national anthem on March 3, 1931 by U.S. President

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

), the song contains an early reference to a variation of the phrase: "And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'"50th Anniversary of Our National Motto, "In God We Trust," 2006
Proclamation of George W. Bush,

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

. The change from "E Pluribus Unum" to "In God we trust" was generally considered uncontroversial at the time, given the rising influence of organized religion and pressures of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

era in the 1950s. The 1956 law was one of several legislative actions Congress took to differentiate the United States from atheistic communism. Earlier, a 1954 act added the words "under God" to the

Pledge of Allegiance The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is a patriotic recited verse that promises allegiance to the flag of the United States and the republic of the United States of America. The first version, with a text different from the one used ...

.James Hudnut-Beumler, ''Looking for God in the Suburbs: The Religion of the American Dream and Its Critics, 1945-1965'' (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994), pp. 50-51. Some states also adopted mottos with religious overtones during this time, for example

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

's "

With God, all things are possible With God, all things are possible is the motto of the U.S. state of Ohio. Quoted from the Gospel of Matthew, verse , it is the only state motto taken directly from the Bible (, ''para de Theō panta dynata''). It is defined in section 5.06 of the ...

". The constitutionality of the modern national motto has been questioned with relationship to the

separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...

outlined in the

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

. In 1970, in ''

Aronow v. United States ''Aronow v. United States'' (1970) was a case heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit challenging the inclusion of " In God We Trust" on U.S. currency. The lawsuit alleged that a law passed by Congress () requiring that " ...

'', the

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

ruled that the motto does not violate the First Amendment to the Constitution. The

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

has not ruled on the issue.

References

Motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

History

See also

References