“In God We Trust” on currency

“Dear Sir: … One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form in our coins.“ Those were the opening lines of a letter by N. R. Watkinson, a small-town Pennsylvania minister, to Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury under President Lincoln. Chase could have easily ignored the letter, but the idea of defending the land against “the ignominy of heathenism” grabbed the Secretary, and in a letter to the Director of the U.S. mint he ordered the coins that were  about to be struck to add a motto to the effect of Watkinson’s words.

On this day, April 22, in 1864, as part of the U.S. Coinage Act, the first 2-cent piece arrived, with the new motto since included on all U.S. currency: “In God We Trust”.

In the three years between Chase’s order and the release of the 2 cent coin several others were struck with slightly different mottoes. “Our Trust is in God” was proposed, but turned out to be too long, so it was shortened to “God Our Trust”. Another issue around that time had “God and Our Country”, until finally the final wording was settled on.