In light of the recent developments relating to the Ten Commandments situation, i decided to look into the history of the phrase "In God We Trust", and how it got to be on our currency. was the person who headed the 'IGWT' campaign referring to any specific deity? read on...

The year was 1861. This preacher dude named Rev. M. R. Watkinson of Ridleyville, Pennsylvania sent a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase stating the following(excerpt):

"One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins.

You are probably a Christian. 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."

this letter was written by a Christian minister, and it seems as if the deity being referred to is none other than the God of the Christian faith.

so what happens next you say? well, the secratary of the treasury was so moved by the letter that he himself wrote a letter 7 days later to a guy by the name of James Pollock, who ran the show over at the Philedelphia Mint. the letter read like this:

"Dear Sir: No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins. You will cause a device to be prepared without unnecessary delay with a motto expressing in the fewest and tersest words possible this national recognition."

well, 2 years later, the dude who ran the mint designed the coins and came up with two choices for a motto:
1. "OUR COUNTRY; OUR GOD"
2. "GOD, OUR TRUST"

The secratary of the treasury emailed (o wait, 1863, nm) the MintMaster back and said the following:
"I approve your mottoes, only suggesting that on that with the Washington obverse the motto should begin with the word OUR, so as to read OUR GOD AND OUR COUNTRY. And on that with the shield, it should be changed so as to read: IN GOD WE TRUST. "

now, you may say, hold the friggen phone birdman! you mean 3 guys got together, came up with the idea, and started pumping out coins!?!?

nah, its doesnt fly like that; the group still needed federal legislation to start pressing the new coinage. well, on April 22, 1964, they got the go-ahead for the motto on the one and two cent coins. a year later, March 3, 1865, another act of congress put the motto on all coins.

and the rest is history!