Download E Pluribus Unum - Cloudfront.net

Supporting standards comprise
35% of the U. S. History Test
26 (E)
Supporting Standard (26)
The student understands how people from various
groups contribute to our national identity.
The Student is expected to:
(E) Discuss the meaning & historical
significance of the mottos “E Pluribus Unum” &
“In God We Trust”
Supporting Standard (26)
The student understands how people from various
groups contribute to our national identity.
The Student is expected to:
(E) 1 Discuss the meaning & historical
significance of the motto “E Pluribus Unum”
E pluribus
unum
E pluribus unum—Latin for “Out of many,
one” (alternatively translated as “One out of many” or
“One from many”)—is a phrase on the Seal of the U. S.,
along with Annuit cœptis (Latin for “He approves [has
approved] of the undertaking”) and Novus ordo
seclorum, (Latin for “New Order of the Ages”) and
adopted by an Act of Congress in 1782. Never codified
by law, E pluribus unum was considered a de
facto motto of the United States until 1956 when the U.
S. Congress passed an act (H. J. Resolution 396),
adopting “In God We Trust” as the official motto.
The motto was suggested in 1776 by Pierre Eugene du
Simitiere to the committee responsible for developing
the seal. At the time of the American Revolution, the
exact phrase appeared prominently on the title page of
every issue of a popular periodical, The Gentleman’s
Magazine which collected articles from many sources
into one “magazine.” While Annuit cœptis and Novus
ordo seclorum appear on the reverse side of the great
seal, E pluribus unum appears on the obverse side of
the seal, the image of which is used as the national
emblem of the United States, and appears on official
documents such as passports. It also appears on
the seal of the President & Vice President, as well as
the seal of the House of Representatives & Senate, and
the Supreme Court.
The understood meaning of the phrase was
that out of many states (or colonies) emerge a
single nation. However, in recent years its
meaning has come to suggest that out of
many peoples, races, religions and ancestries
has emerged a single people and nation—
illustrating the concept of the melting pot.
The first coins with E pluribus unum were
dated 1786 and struck under the authorization
of the State of New Jersey by Thomas
Goadsby and Albion Cox in Rahway, New
Jersey.
Supporting Standard (26)
The student understands how people from various
groups contribute to our national identity.
The Student is expected to:
(E) 2 Discuss the meaning & historical
significance of the motto “In God We Trust”
In God we
trust
“In God we trust” was adopted as the
official motto of the U. S. in 1956 as an
alternative or replacement to the unofficial
motto of E pluribus unum, which was
adopted when the Great Seal of the United
States was created and adopted in 1782. “In
God we trust” first appeared on U. S. coins in
1864 and has appeared on paper
currency since 1957. Some secularists object to
its use.
In 1956, the nation was at a particularly tense
time in the Cold War, and the United States
wanted to distinguish itself from the Soviet
Union, which promoted state atheism. As a
result, the 84th Congress passed a joint resolution
“declaring IN GOD WE TRUST the national
motto of the United States.” The law was signed
by President Eisenhower on July 30, 1956, and
the motto was progressively added to paper
money over a period from 1957 to 1966. The
United States Code at 36 U. S. C. § 302 now
states: “‘In God we trust’ is the national motto.”
Those who advocate the separation of church
& state have questioned the legality of this
motto, asserting that it violates United States
Constitution which forbids the government
from passing any law respecting the
establishment of religion.
Religious accomodationists state that this
entrenched practice has not historically
presented any constitutional difficulty, is not
coercive, and does not prefer one religious
denomination over another.
The motto was first challenged in Aronow v. U. S. in 1970, but
the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled: “It is
quite obvious that the national motto and the slogan on coinage
and currency ‘In God We Trust’ has nothing whatsoever to do
with the establishment of religion. Its use is of patriotic or
ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a
governmental sponsorship of a religious exercise.” The decision
was cited in Elk Grove United School District v. Newdow, a 2004
case on the Pledge of Allegiance. These acts of “ceremonial
deism” are “protected from Establishment Clause scrutiny
chiefly because they have lost through rote repetition any
significant religious content.” In Zorach v. Clauson (1952), the
Supreme Court also held that the nation’s “institutions
presuppose a Supreme Being” and that government recognition
of God does not constitute the establishment of a state church
as the Constitution’s authors intended to prohibit.
Fini