What is the national motto?
Answer
In God We Trust
Explanation
The national motto of the United States is In God We Trust. The phrase first appeared on U.S. coinage in 1864 on the new two-cent piece, after Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase received a wave of letters during the Civil War urging recognition of God on coins. Congress passed the Act of April 22, 1864 authorizing the phrase, and the Mint Director James Pollock placed it on the coin.
The motto spread to other denominations over the following decades: silver dollars and other gold and silver coins from 1866; intermittently dropped and restored over the early twentieth century; and made mandatory on all U.S. coins in 1908 (Public Law 60-120) and on all paper currency by Public Law 84-140, signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 11, 1955. Eisenhower then signed Public Law 84-851 on July 30, 1956, making In God We Trust the official national motto of the United States, codified at 36 U.S.C. section 302.
The phrase replaced no prior official motto but ran alongside (and gradually overshadowed) the de facto motto E Pluribus Unum (Out of many, one), which had appeared on the Great Seal since 1782 and remains in active use on most U.S. coins. The choice was made in the Cold War era, partly to distinguish the United States from the officially atheist Soviet Union; the same period saw the addition of under God to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954.
The motto appears on every piece of U.S. currency, on the chamber wall above the Speaker's desk in the House of Representatives, on the Senate chamber, on the Capitol Visitor Center, on the Washington National Cathedral, and on countless state and municipal buildings. Several state legislatures have required public schools to display the motto in classrooms (Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee, and others) since the 2010s.
The Supreme Court has not ruled directly on the motto's constitutionality, but lower federal courts have repeatedly upheld it under the Establishment Clause, treating it as a form of ceremonial deism with longstanding usage rather than a state endorsement of a specific religion. The motto is sometimes confused with E Pluribus Unum, which is older and still appears on the Great Seal and most U.S. coins, but In God We Trust is the official national motto since 1956.
Why this matters for your test
Knowing the national motto is a basic civics requirement and a frequent test question. The phrase appears on currency every applicant handles and inside major federal buildings.
Understanding when and why it became the motto also clarifies the religious vocabulary used in American public life.
Source: USCIS 128 Civics Questions (2025)
