How "In God We Trust" was put on all our money
(Author unknown--- drice)
----------------------------------------------

The Constitution of these United States was ratified in 1789 without
a single reference to 'god'. At that time, 4 percent of the populace
was church-involved and every major statesman was a deist, including
the first 6 presidents.

The first directions as to mottoes on currency were given in Statute
II, Chapt. II, January 18, 1837, "An Act supplementary to the act
entitled 'An Act establishing a mint, and regulating the coins of
the United States.'" In it (a) Sec. 2, Sixth read:

"The engraver shall prepare and engrave, with the legal devices and
inscriptions, all the dies used in the coinage of the mint and its
branches."

Sec. 13 read:

"And be it further enacted, That upon the coins struck at the mint
there shall be the following devices and legends; upon one side of
each of said coins there shall be an impression emblematic of
liberty, with an inscription of the word LIBERTY, and the year of
the coinage; and upon the reverse of each of the gold and silver,
there shall be the figure or representation of an eagle, with the
inscription United States of America, and a designation of the value
of the coin; but on the reverse of the dime and half dime, cent and
half cent, the figure of the eagle shall be omitted."

The coinage was totally secular; as clean from a mention of god as
was the Constitution.

As the theistic community grew, its power grew so that by the pre-
Civil War days church membership was up to 23 percent. hoping to
overcome the 'omission' of god from the Constitution, on February
3, 1863, 11 Protestant denominations organized the National Reform
Association whose primary mission was to amend the Constitution of
the United States to "declare the nation's allegiance to Jesus
Christ," to "indicate that this is a Christian nation," and to
"undeniably" put the "legal basis" of the land on "Christian laws,
institutions and usages." The Association formally petitioned
Congress to amend the Preamble of the Constitution so as to read:

"We, the people fo the United States, humbly acknowledging Almighty
God as the source of all authority and power in civil government,
the Lord Jesus Christ as the Ruler among the nations, His revealed
will as the supreme law of the land, in order to constitute a
Christian government, and in order to form a more perfect union,
establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings
of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to ourselves, our
posterity, and all the people, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America."

Fortunately, the "Christian amendment" never succeeded in obtaining
either approval of Congress or any state. the NRA [not the gun boys-
the religion boys] continued its efforts into the 20th century when
it still had registered lobbiests up to the late '50s.

The NRA attracted emminent men into its ranks in 1863; a Supreme Court
Justice [Strong], a couple Pennsylvania governors [Geary and Pollock],
Harvey of Kansas, Stewart of Vermont and the Commissioner of Public
Schools of Rhode Island to name a few.

Pollock, who became Director of the Mint, figures largely in placing
the motto "In God We Trust" on U.S. coins. what the religious
fanatics who advocated the "Christian amendment" could not do overtly
with the support of the electorate, was accomplished covertly, through
the determination of one of their members.

Since the Act of 1837 proscribed any mottoes other than those enacted,
Pollock and his pals slipped in a seemingly innocuous amendment to the
Act in the form of "An Act in Amendment of an Act entitled, 'An Act
Relating to Foreign Coins and the Coinage of Cents at the Mint of
the United States,' approved February twenty-one, eighteen hundred
and fifty-seven," was passed by Congress on April 22, 1864. That
Act read as follows:

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of American in Congress assembled, that, from and
after the passage of this act, the standard weight of the cent
coined at the mint of the United States shall be forty-eight grains,
or one tenth of one ounce troy; and said cent shall be composed of
ninety-five per centum of tin and zinc, in such proportions as shall
be determined by the director of the mint; and there shall be from
time to time struck and coined at the mint a two-cent piece of the
same composition, the standard weight of which shall be ninety-six
grains, or one fifth of one ounce troy, with no greater deviation
than four grains to each piece of said cent and two-cent coins; and
the shape [here comes the kicker], MOTTOES [my emphasis], and devices
of said coins shall be fixed by the DIRECTOR OF THE MINT [guess who?],
with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury; and the laws now
in force relating to the coinage of cents and providing for the
purchase of material and prescribing the appropriate duties of the
officers of the mint and the Secretary of the Treasury be, and the
same are hereby, extended to the coinage provided for."

Bingo! Pollock now had carte blanche to Christianize our coins. he
minted 26+ million two-cent pieces with his motto. Having his foot
in the door, his pals presented the shotgun to cover all our money
with Jesus with, "An Act to authorize the Coinage of Three-Cent
pieces, and for other Purposes," passed by Congress on March 3,
1865, Section Five of that Act being:

"And be it further enacted, That, in addition to the devices and
legends upon the gold, silver, and other coines [sic] of the United
States, it shall be lawful for the director of the mint, with the
approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, to cause the motto 'In
God We Trust' to be placed upon such coins hereafter to be issued
as shall admit of such legend thereon."

The motto was applied here and there to various denominations [no pun
intended] after 1866. T. Roosevelt commissioned an artist to design
new coins in 1905 and the artist disliked the inartistic intrusion
of the god motto and opted for 'E Pluribus Unum' which T.R. also
liked. the first coins with that motto were issued in 1907.

When religious factions discovered their precious Jesus had been
replaced by a more proper and secular motto they went nuts and the
issue became a political hot potato. After a lot of bellyaching and
mud-slinging, Congress weaseled out and passed Public Law No. 120
making it a law that Jesus would be on the coins.

The first coin minted with the legalized motto was the Lincoln penny
of 1909; a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of
Abraham Lincoln. pretty ironic and disrespectful since Lincoln hated
Christianity and everything it stood for.

Now that god was all over the coins, things went along for awhile
without much change except that coins were being used less and less
as primary exchange and bills were becoming the main form of currency.

When the Cold War was enjoying its heyday and McCarthyism hysteria
gripped the land, the NRA [the religion boys - not the gun boys]
and religious institutions moved again to capture the symbols of
the nation.

In hysterical language of the day, the Committee on the Judiciary
published on May 10, 1954, that "...one of the greatest differences
between the free world and the Communists, [is] a belief in God."
It was urged that the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag be altered
to recognize god. PS 623 (77th Cong., 56 Stat.) effectuated that end.

On June 7, 1955, H.R. 619, "Providing for the inscription of 'In God
We Trust' on all United States Currency and Coins," was introduced
in the House. the author of the bill made his intent clear
(Congressional Record, June 7, 1955, pp. 7795-96):

"Nothing can be more certain than that our country was founded in
a spiritual atmosphere and with a firm trust in God. While the
sentiment of trust in God is universal [say what?!] and timeless,
these particular four words, 'In God We Trust' are indigenous to
our country...[obviously as shown in Part I {sigh}]." "At the base
of our freedom is our faith in God and the desire of Americans to
live by His will and by His guidance. As long as this country trusts
in God, it will prevail. To serve as a constant reminder of this
truth, it is highly desirable that our currency and coins should
bear these inspiring words, 'In God We Trust.'"

The Committee on Banking and Commerce reported that the 'situation'
[i.e.  no god on paper money] had not been 'remedied' sooner due to
the prohibitive cost of redesigning all the dies used in printing
paper money.  since they were about to replace all the old equipment
anyway and needed to make new dies, the Committee reported it would
be no financial hardship to slip "In God We Trust" onto the paper
currency.

The House passed the bill. on June 29, 1955, the Senate followed suit.

Of course, the Cold War was still on and McCarthyism still lingered
so since godding up the money had gone so smoothly, the religious
forces pushed H.R. Res. 396 on March 22, 1956, to establish "In God
We Trust" as a national motto. the rest, as they say, is history.
Sordid history at best but history best remembered when somebody
sez "we've always had god on our money."

The history of the placing of this motto on our coins and currency
evidences the religious origin of it and demonstrates that the
entire exercise is an establishment of religion.

Where was the First Amendment while all this went on? Where is it
now? buried under political rhetoric and religious hysteria,
that's where.