'In God We Trust': A history of our national motto

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FILE - In this photo illustration the phrase "In God We Trust" can be seen on an American ten dollar bill on Oct. 23, 2008, in London, England. (Photo by Hugh Pinney/Getty Images)

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WASHINGTON - July 30, 2024, marks the 68th anniversary since Congress passed a joint resolution and declared "In God We Trust" as the national motto of the United States.

Passing in both the House and the Senate unanimously and without debate, the resolution replaced "E pluribus unum," meaning "out of many, one," which had existed before, as a de facto official motto, according to History.com.

The resolution was then sent to then-President Dwight Eisenhower’s desk to be signed into law.

‘In God We Trust’ on US currency

The official use of "In God We Trust" dates back to the Civil War era, according to Pew Research.

In 1861, Rev. M. R. Watkinson, a Christian minister from Pennsylvania, sent a letter to then-Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, and requested "the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins," according to Pew.

The secretary agreed and told the director of the mint to prepare a motto for use on U.S. coins.

The director at the time proposed "God, Our Trust" but Chase ended up altering it into "In God We Trust."

The phrase first appeared on a two-cent coin in 1864.

The following year, Congress authorized the mint to put the motto on all silver and gold coins that had space for the phrase.

In October 1957, a year after Eisenhower signed the bill making "In God We Trust" the national motto, it was printed on paper currency for the very first time.