United States national motto: Difference between revisions
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The modern '''motto of the [[United States|United States of America]]''', as established in a 1956 law signed by [[President of the United States|President]] [[Dwight D Eisenhower]], is [[In God we trust]].<ref>{{USC|36|302}} ''National motto''</ref><ref name="USTFS">{{cite web|url=http://www.treasury.gov/about/education/Pages/in-god-we-trust.aspx|title=U.S. on the History of "In God We Trust"|publisher=United States Department of the Treasury|accessdate=2009-04-22}}</ref> The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST as a motto for currency (but not as a National motto) first appeared on United States coins in 1864.<ref name="USTFS"/> |
The modern '''motto of the [[United States|United States of America]]''', as established (in contradiction with the [[en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution|first amendment]]) in a 1956 law signed by [[President of the United States|President]] [[Dwight D Eisenhower]], is [[In God we trust]].<ref>{{USC|36|302}} ''National motto''</ref><ref name="USTFS">{{cite web|url=http://www.treasury.gov/about/education/Pages/in-god-we-trust.aspx|title=U.S. on the History of "In God We Trust"|publisher=United States Department of the Treasury|accessdate=2009-04-22}}</ref> The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST as a motto for currency (but not as a National motto) first appeared on United States coins in 1864.<ref name="USTFS"/> |
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==History== |
==History== |
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Revision as of 21:04, 8 May 2014
The modern motto of the United States of America, as established (in contradiction with the first amendment) in a 1956 law signed by President Dwight D Eisenhower, is In God we trust.[1][2] The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST as a motto for currency (but not as a National motto) first appeared on United States coins in 1864.[2]
History
The 1956 law was the first establishment of an official motto for the country, although E Pluribus Unum ("from many, one") had been adopted by an Act of Congress in 1782 as the motto for the Seal of the United States and had been used on coins and paper money since 1795. Thus, it had been unofficially considered to be the country's motto.[citation needed]
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 US 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.'"[3]
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.[4]
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.
References
- ^ 36 U.S.C. § 302 National motto
- ^ a b "U.S. on the History of "In God We Trust"". United States Department of the Treasury. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
- ^ 50th Anniversary of Our National Motto, "In God We Trust," 2006, Proclamation of George W. Bush, White House.
- ^ 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.