Dean Freytag

Actually.. Less than 100 years...

The replacement motto: "In God We Trust:"

The war of 1812 was an unusual conflict. Both sides claimed victory. The winner depends upon which history books or which country's schools you attended. Also, the war lasted well beyond 1812.

During 1814, Francis Scott Key (a.k.a. Frank) had an eventful September. "Traveling under a white flag, Key met with both an enemy general and admiral, recovered a war prisoner, became a war prisoner, watched a historical bombardment, lost a night's sleep, and wrote" what eventually became the American national anthem: The Star Spangled Banner. 1 The final stanza reads:

"And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.' And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."

In 1864, the words were shortened to "In God We Trust" and applied to a newly designed two-cent coin.

However these were not mandated into law until the 1950s.

Prior to that, the official, government endorsed motto was "E pluribus unum".

Almost a century and a half ago, eleven Protestant denominations mounted a campaign to add references to God to the U.S. Constitution and other federal documents. Rev. M.R. Watkinson of Ridleyville PA was the first of many to write a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase in 1861 to promote this concept. 2 Watkinson suggested the words "God, Liberty, Law." 3 In 1863, Chase asked the Director of the Mint, James Pollock to prepare suitable wording for a motto to be used on Union coins used during the Civil War. Pollock suggested "Our Trust Is In God," "Our God And Our Country," "God And Our Country," and "God Our Trust." Chase picked "In God We Trust" to be used on some of the government's coins. The phrase was a subtle reminder that the Union considered itself on God's side with respect to slavery. Congress passed enabling legislation. Since a 1837 Act of Congress specified the mottos and devices that were to be placed on U.S. coins, it was necessary to pass another Act to enable the motto to be added. This was done on

1886-APR-22. "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"

That was just on coinage. It did not become the national motto until Eisenhower signed that law in the 1950s.

Get *your* history straight. The motto was first used on US coins in

1864, but it was somewhat unofficial and remained so for nearly a century. It's use on money was not mandatory and, in fact, I have in my possession a very old silver certificate that does not have it anywhere on the bill. In 1955, at the height of Cold War hysteria, it was finally officially adopted as the US motto, and it's inclusion on money was made mandatory. It was about the same time that the words "under God" were inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance.