| Dime with US national motto | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Head of Franklin D. Roosevelt | Olive branch, torch and oak branch surrounded with value and lettering "United States of America" |
| Total 86,408,282,060 coins minted from 1965 to 2015. | |
The modern motto of the United States of America , as established in a 1956 law signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, is "In God we trust". [1] [2] [3] The phrase first appeared on U.S. coins in 1864. [2]
The 1956 law was the first establishment of an official motto for the country, although E pluribus unum ("Out of many, one") was adopted by an Act of Congress in 1782 as the motto for the Seal of the United States and has been used on coins and paper money since 1795. [3]
A phrase similar to "In God we trust" appears in the final stanza of "The Star-Spangled Banner". 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: "And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'" [4]
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 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. [5] Some states also adopted mottos with religious overtones during this time, for example Ohio's "With God, all things are possible".
The constitutionality of the modern national motto has been questioned with relationship to the separation of church and state outlined in the First Amendment. In 1970, in Aronow v. United States , the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the motto does not violate the First Amendment to the Constitution. The United States Supreme Court has not ruled on the issue.
The Pledge of Allegiance 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 was written in 1885 by Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union Army officer in the Civil War who later authored a book on how to teach patriotism to children in public schools. In 1892, Francis Bellamy revised Balch's verse as part of a magazine promotion surrounding the World's Columbian Exposition, which celebrated the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas. Bellamy, the circulation manager for The Youth's Companion magazine, helped persuade then-president Benjamin Harrison to institute Columbus Day as a national holiday and lobbied Congress for a national school celebration of the day. The magazine sent leaflets containing part of Bellamy's Pledge of Allegiance to schools across the country and on October 21, 1892, over 10,000 children recited the verse together.
The Great Seal is the seal of the United States of America. The phrase is used both for the impression device itself, which is kept by the United States secretary of state, and more generally for the impression it produces. The obverse of the Great Seal depicts the national coat of arms of the United States while the reverse features a truncated pyramid topped by an Eye of Providence. The year of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, 1776, is noted in Roman numerals at the base of the pyramid. The seal contains three Latin phrases: E Pluribus Unum, Annuit cœptis, and Novus ordo seclorum.
"In God We Trust" is the official motto of the United States as well as the motto of the U.S. state of Florida, along with the nation of Nicaragua. It was adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1956, replacing E pluribus unum, which had been the de facto motto since the initial design of the Great Seal of the United States.
E pluribus unum – Latin for "Out of many, one" – is a traditional motto of the United States, appearing on the Great Seal along with Annuit cœptis and Novus ordo seclorum which appear on the reverse of the Great Seal; its inclusion on the seal was suggested by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere and approved in an act of the Congress of the Confederation in 1782. While its status as national motto was for many years unofficial, E pluribus unum was still considered the de facto motto of the United States from its early history. Eventually, the U.S. Congress passed an act in 1956, adopting "In God We Trust" as the official motto.
Annuit cœptis is one of two mottos on the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States. The literal translation is "[He] favors [our] undertakings", from Latin annuo, and coeptum. Because of its context as a caption above the Eye of Providence, the standard translations are "Providence favors our undertakings" and "Providence has favored our undertakings".
James Pollock was the 13th governor of Pennsylvania from 1855 to 1858.
The United States one-dollar bill (US$1), sometimes referred to as a single, has been the lowest value denomination of United States paper currency since the discontinuation of U.S. fractional currency notes in 1876. An image of the first U.S. president (1789–1797), George Washington, based on the Athenaeum Portrait, a 1796 painting by Gilbert Stuart, is currently featured on the obverse, and the Great Seal of the United States is featured on the reverse. The one-dollar bill has the oldest overall design of all U.S. currency currently being produced. The reverse design of the present dollar debuted in 1935, and the obverse in 1963 when it was first issued as a Federal Reserve Note.
Michael Arthur Newdow is an American attorney and emergency medicine physician. He is best known for his efforts to have recitations of the current version of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools in the United States declared unconstitutional because of its inclusion of the phrase "under God". He also filed and lost a lawsuit to stop the invocation prayer at President Bush's second inauguration and in 2009 he filed a lawsuit to prevent references to God and religion from being part of President Obama's inauguration.
"Separation of church and state" is a metaphor paraphrased from Thomas Jefferson and used by others in discussions of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof".
Presidential dollar coins are a series of United States dollar coins with engravings of relief portraits of U.S. presidents on the obverse and the Statue of Liberty on the reverse.
National symbols of the United States are the symbols used to represent the United States of America.
Christian amendment describes any of several attempts to amend a country's constitution in order to officially make it a Christian state.
Ceremonial deism is a legal term used in the United States to designate governmental religious references and practices deemed to be mere cultural rituals and not inherently religious because of long customary usage. Proposed examples of ceremonial deism include the reference to God introduced into the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, the phrase "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency, and the Ohio state motto, "With God, all things are possible".
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 inscription 'In God we Trust'... shall appear on all United States currency and coins" was a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The Coinage Act of 1864 was a United States federal law passed on April 22, 1864, which changed the composition of the one-cent coin and authorized the minting of the two-cent coin. The Director of the U.S. Mint developed the designs for these coins for final approval of the Secretary of the Treasury. As a result of this law, the phrase "In God We Trust" first appeared, on the 1864 two-cent coin. An Act of Congress, passed on March 3, 1865, allowed the Mint Director, with the Secretary's approval, to place the phrase on all gold and silver coins that "shall admit the inscription thereon." In 1956, "In God We Trust" replaced "E Pluribus Unum" as the national motto. All currency was printed and minted with the new motto.
The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States has been criticized on several grounds. Its use in government funded schools has been the most controversial, as critics contend that a government-sanctioned endorsement of religion violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Arguments against the pledge include that the pledge itself is incompatible with democracy and freedom, that it is a form of nationalistic indoctrination, that pledges of allegiance are features of current and former totalitarian states such as Nazi Germany, and that the pledge was written to sell flags.
The half eagle is a United States coin that was produced for circulation from 1795 to 1929 and in commemorative and bullion coins since 1983. Composed almost entirely of gold, its face value of five dollars is half that of the eagle coin. Production of the half eagle was authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792, and it was the first gold coin minted by the United States.
"Draped Bust" was the name given to a design of United States coins. It appeared on much of the regular-issue copper and silver United States coinage, 1796–1807. It was designed by engraver Robert Scot.
Seth Read was born in Uxbridge in Worcester County, Massachusetts, and died at Erie, Pennsylvania, as "Seth Reed", at age 51.
The seal of Zion, Illinois, is the official city seal for Zion, Illinois, United States. It was adopted in 1992 following a Court of Appeal ruling that the previous seal which had been used since 1902 was unconstitutional due to its Christian symbolism. The seal is based around the dome on the city's bandstand and uses the American national motto "In God We Trust" to replace "God reigns" in the old seal, which was the reason why the United States courts of appeals ruled it unlawful for use.