From my hearth I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters. This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed.

This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would make a beautiful coin, to which no possible citizen could object. What if our Republic were not shattered beyond reconstruction? Would not the antiquaries of succeeding centuries rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation? What I propose is that instead of the goddess of liberty we shall have next inside the 13 stars a ring inscribed with the words PERPETUAL UNION within the ring the allseeing eye, crowned with a halo beneath this eye the American flag, bearing in its field stars equal to the number of the States united in the folds of the bars the words GOD, LIBERTY, LAW.

I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins. One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. from Ridleyville, Pennsylvania, and read:ĭear Sir: You are about to submit your annual report to the Congress respecting the affairs of the national finances.

From Treasury Department records, it appears that the first such appeal came in a letter dated November 13, 1861. Chase received many appeals from devout persons throughout the country, urging that the United States recognize the Deity on United States coins. The motto IN GOD WE TRUST was placed on United States coins largely because of the increased religious sentiment existing during the Civil War.

In god we trust coinage