Newsgroups: alt.politics.clinton,alt.fan.rush-limbaugh,talk.politics.misc From: wdstarr@world.std.com (William December Starr) Subject: Re: "In God We Trust" -- a factoid Message-ID: Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1993 12:24:31 GMT In article , gonzalez@netcom.com (John Gonzalez) said: > Interesting, I have a question for you. What do you know that the > framers of the constitution didn't? They wrote, "Congress shall make > no law respecting an establishment of religion" and yet mentioned God > on official government documents, i.e. Decl. of Indep. and currency. >From my copy of the 1991 edition of the "Information Please" almanac, at page 630: "In God We Trust" "In God We Trust" first appeared on U.S. coins after April 22, 1864, when Congress passed an act authorizing the coinage of a 2-cent piece bearing this motto. Thereafter, Congress extended its use to other coins. On July 30, 1956, it became the national motto. I note in passing that the final draft of the original Constitution was accepted by the Constitutional Convention in September of 1787, and that the first ten Amendments, commonly known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified in December of 1791... seventy-six and seventy-two years, respectively, before "In God We Trust" first appeared on U.S. currency. -- William December Starr