When I began my research on the history of this national motto which prominently appears on U.S. currency, I glanced at the Wikipedia article on “In God we trust.” The entry contends that the motto was inspired by the fourth verse of the Star Spangled Banner: “Then conquer we must, when our cause is just, And this be our motto: ‘in God is our trust.'” While this is an alluring idea – national song inspires national motto – the actual history seems more mundane. Congress gradually directed this motto be inscribed on coinage and it took over a 160 years before Congress established this phrase as our national motto.
On April 2, 1792, Congress passed its first law regarding national coinage. This law established the U.S. Mint and a national coinage for the United States. It provided that the coinage should have “proper devices and inscriptions” and section 10 of this law laid out the devices and inscriptions that were to appear:
Upon one side of each of the said coins there shall be an impression emblematic of liberty, with an inscription of the word Liberty and the year of coinage; and upon the reverse of each of the gold and silver coins there shall be the figure … of an eagle with this inscription ‘United States of America’ and upon the reverse of each of the copper coins, there shall be an inscription which shall express the denomination of the piece …
In 1837, Congress passed another law, ch. III 5 Stat. 136, amending the 1792 law regarding the design on the coins. The 1837 law made changes to the devices and inscriptions for the coins. Gold and silver coins were still to have the inscription “Liberty” and the year