For many people at the time, placing religious language in the Constitution or on symbols of government was not consistent with American ideals. In fact, when coins were redesigned late in the 19th century, it disappeared from coins as well.Īs I demonstrate in my book, these developments were related to the spread of secularism in the post-Civil War U.S. Though “In God We Trust” was added to coins, it was not added to the increasingly common paper money. National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History. Despite lobbying by major Protestant denominations such as the Methodists, this so-called Sovereignty of God amendment was never ratified. If the amendment’s supporters had succeeded in having their way, Christian belief would be deeply embedded in the United States government.īut, such invocations of God in national politics were not to last. The proposed language – which anticipated President Trump’s remarks about the origin of Americans’ rights – would have declared that Americans recognized “Almighty God as the source of all authority and power in civil government.” In 1864, with the Civil War still raging, a group supported by the North’s major Protestant denominations began advocating change to the preamble of the Constitution. Putting the phrase on coins was just the beginning. Such language, Watkinson wrote, would “place us openly under the divine protection.” Watkinson, a Pennsylvania clergyman, encouraged the placement of “In God We Trust” on coins at the war’s outset in order to help the North’s cause.
Political rhetoric linking the United States with a divine power emerged on a large scale with the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861.