So, I’ve stumbled across another assertion that seems lacking in truth. The assertion? That the motto IN GOD WE TRUST did not actually appear on US money until the 1950s. In all honesty, I didn’t know if this was true or not, so I decided it was time to do some digging. This is an often argued point by secularists trying to prove that our country was not founded on religious principles and belief in a higher power. They claim that American money did not bear the motto IN GOD WE TRUST until the 1950s, thus proving that our founders did not want us to be a religious nation.
Is this true? Well, no. There is some partial truth to it, but the claim that our money was void of IN GOD WE TRUST for most of our country’s existence is false. But, let’s take a look at the history and see for ourselves. Remember, it is important to know the truth on matters. Lately, when something comes up that I am not sure on, I feel the need to investigate and explore in order to uncover the truth. I think you’ll find this investigation interesting. It is also important to remember that truth is what we must all seek and we must be willing to accept it, even if it doesn’t fit with our ideology. Truth can be uncomfortable sometimes, but it should always be unacceptable to accept an untruth just so we may continue to believe in what we wish.
So, the colonists. When our Founding Fathers declared independence from England and set off to start up a new nation, they did not have “American” money to work with. The colonists had a whole smattering of different types of coinage: French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English. The majority of the time they worked off a barter system. Keep in mind that after winning the war, the Founding Fathers had to build a nation. They didn’t have a mint to produce American money, but they quickly realized that they needed national coinage. They had to decide whether to build a mint or have third-party members try their luck at producing US money.
Now, of course, several guys tried their hand at coming up with coins that everybody would want to use. Some put Washington’s face on the coins, but many feared this was too much like having a king’s face represented on money. Lots of different coins were made, but none of them panned out. Then in 1792, Congress passed the first coinage act and they got down to the business of building the first US mint in Philadelphia. Time passed on and coins of different values and material (gold, copper, silver) were tried. Many of the coins minted were not well received and therefore didn’t get accepted. For years and years there was a trial-and-error period. I’m not going to bore you with all the minute details, so if you want to read further about it, you can go here.
IN GOD WE TRUST first appeared on US coins in 1864. After the Civil War, the Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, received many requests for a motto recognizing the Deity be placed on coinage. The appeals were sent to Congress and in 1864, Congress passed the Act that stated that US coins be minted with the motto IN GOD WE TRUST. This motto has remained on US coins since that time. The only exception is that it was removed from the 5-cent coin for a period of time, but returned once the Jefferson nickel came out in 1938.
Now, here is where the secularist claim has some truth. The motto did not appear on paper money until 1957. Secularist like to use the 1957 date as proof that the US didn’t have the religious motto on money until relatively recently. A quick look at the U.S. Department of Treasury proves that this just isn’t the case. And if you would like to read that you can go here.
It is obvious what is going on here with this claim by secularist. The goal and intent is to cause doubt in our country’s religious foundation. It is meant to rewrite history so that new generations of people come to believe that we have always been a secularist country. Those that tout this claim either a) neglected to do their research and are just spouting off untruths to benefit their cause or b) know the truth, but are trying to hide it by burying it under lies in order to change history in their favor.
It is sad and frustrating to me that we live in a time where we can trust no one’s word. But, maybe it has always been this way. This is just another clear example to me where we must always think for ourselves and do our own research. We cannot be lazy and allow history to be retold. And above all, we must seek truth, whether it’s what we want to hear or not.
