History Lesson of "In God We Trust" and Other Things

[amileegirl]

This is just an archive for myself because I am sick and tired of typing out the same darned info from scratch over and over and over...

 

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In God We Trust

The United States already HAD a perfectly good and sound motto addopted in 1782, "E Pluribus Unum" -- From Many One.     

 "In God We Trust"  first appeared on the two cent coin in 1864 (which is almost 90 YEARS after the founding of the country) because of the rising religous sentiments during the CIVIL WAR and required a special act of congress.     The Rev. M. R. Watkinson, Minister of the Gospel from Ridleyville, Pennsylvania sent a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase in 1861 expressing that he felt that the Chrisitan God, had been...overlooked (I daresay it WAS NOT but deliberately left off by the founders).    The phrase was included on gold and silver coins in 1865 and 1866.   The phrase was not considered mandatory until 1908 and did not appear on ALL us coins until 1938.

These words did NOT appear on paper money until the McCarthy Era in 1957 when an act of Congress in 1956 declared In God We Trust was the National Motto, DESPITE that one already existed, E Pluribus Unum  (you know, because of all those communists).

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A point about the Declaration of Independence....the words Thomas Jefferson used are VERY specifically NON-denominational and very all encompassing,  and not at all what you'd expect for a Christian document.    Thomas Jefferson was an exceptional writer, he did not choose his words randomly.

Found in the first two sentences of the Declaration of Independence:

Laws of Nature -- is not a Chrisitan term.
Nature's God -- is not a Christian term.
Endowed by their Creator -- is very deliberatly NON specific.

Found in the last paragraph of the DOI:
Divine Providence -- non specific and can refer to ANY divine being or the idea of FATE.
Mentions of Jesus in a 1,328 word document -- ZERO

Christians do not "forget" to mention phrases like "Our Lord God" "Amen" "Jesus" "Holy Father" or other such convention.     ESPECIALLY at the closing of a document.   If Thomas Jeffeson had meant to invoke the Christian god specifically, he would have done so, but yet did NOT.

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The consitution is based up a lot of pre-existing democratic ideas and priciples from Babylonia, Ancient Greece, and even the First Nations (Native Americans) and then expanded upon.       Learned men of the time were schooled in Latin and thus were schooled in those philosophies.     

Words in the Constitution -- 4400
Mentions of God in the Constitution -- ZERO
Mentions of Jesus in the Constitution -- ZERO

"Year of Our Lord" is a naming convention for the date, so is only in the document ONLY because that is how it was done at the time when writing out the date formally.  

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Edward Bellamy, a Minister and Christian Socialist, wrote the pledge in 1892 he wrote the pledge as follows:  

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and (to) the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Bellamy considered putting in the word "equality" but during the time there was much opposition for equality for women and non-whites (especially blacks) of the time that he decided to leave it out.

In 1923 and 1924 the National Flag Conference, under the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge's words, "my Flag," to "the Flag of the United States of America." Bellamy DID NOT like the change at all.  

In 1954, during the McCarthy Era, The Knights of Columbus persuaded congress to add, "under God" to the Pledge (you know so that they could weed out those heathen communists during their witch hunts).   This changed the pledge from a private oath to a prayer.   Bellamy's grandaughter expressed strongly that her grandfather would have been very against this change.

The only change the Bellamy would have approved of, would have been putting the word EQUALITY into his original version as he had wanted to do.

[IhartU]

Apr. 13, 2009 at 5:43 PM

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[sgr123]

Apr. 13, 2009 at 5:46 PM

Mentions of Jesus in a 1,328 word document -- ZERO

I guess you kind of need the mention of Christ for it to be a CHRISTian document, don't you?  Good post.  I'd like to email it to my mother if you wouldn't mind.  I keep trying to explain all of this to her, but she isn't getting it.

[2bPolitician]

Apr. 13, 2009 at 5:55 PM

[Della529]

Apr. 13, 2009 at 6:17 PM

BRAVO!  BRAVO!  Many continue to argue these points by bringing up the Puritans and others similar to them, however, they did not produce the documents that "INCORPORATED" America.

It would be fan-tabulous if Latin and a more prominent understanding of the English language was still a part of the educational curriculum.

[amileegirl]

Apr. 13, 2009 at 6:23 PM

Feel free sgr123

(Original Poster)

[jramsaran]

Apr. 13, 2009 at 6:33 PM

i heart you amilee

[sgr123]

Apr. 13, 2009 at 7:08 PM

Thank you, ma'am.

[sweetheart1985]

Apr. 13, 2009 at 7:20 PM

Oh, thank you so so much ALG. I was JUST trying to explain this very thing to someone recently and I fear they didn't get ANY thing out of what I said.

Thanks so much, you rad little heathen you!

[Momma_Halo]

Apr. 13, 2009 at 8:14 PM

Oh this is just awesome! I was in a College American History class and the instructor (who I have known for 7 years) was explaining the founding fathers and such. And one girl said that this country was built on Christian standards... *THUD!* I had to explain to her all the things you just posted and many other facts. She turned to the instructor to back her up and she ended up backing me up lol.

[RanaAurora]

Apr. 13, 2009 at 10:27 PM

THANK YOU.