Historian - October 2008

Thinking back to a certain time and place early in your Masonic journey you may well remember hearing this important question – In whom do you put your trust?

“In God We Trust” was approved by President Eisenhower in 1956 as our National Motto, but those famous words were first used by our Country some 92 years earlier.

It was 1864 and The Honorable Salmon Portland Chase, the then Secretary of the Treasury directed that the words “In God We Trust” be added to the 2-cent piece. Since that time, with few exceptions, all US coins have had these words on them. The same words first appeared on paper currency in 1956 and still appear on today’s currency.

Salmon P. Chase was a New Hampshire native. He wasn’t a Freemason, but he would have made a good one. He was born January 13, 1808 over in Cornish. When he was nine, his father died and he moved to Ohio to live with his Uncle Philander, who was an Episcopal Bishop. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1826 and practiced law in Ohio. He was very active in the anti-slavery movement and became a successful local politician. In 1849 he was elected to the US Senate from Ohio and in 1854 held a leadership position in a movement to form a new anti-slavery party. In that regard, he wrote the “Appeal of the Independent Democrats in Congress to the People of the United States” – considered by some to be the earliest draft of the Republican Party creed. In 1855 he was elected the first Republican Governor of Ohio.

Chase wanted to be President and ran for the office in 1860. While he probably would have won the Republican Party’s nomination, he threw his support behind the eventual winner, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln named him to his Cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury in 1861 and gave him the difficult task of raising funds to pay for the Civil War while maintaining the Nation’s solvency. In 1862, Chase established the Bureau of Internal Revenue (later renamed Internal Revenue Service) and in 1863 administered the first national income tax. During the same timeframe, he established the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in order to print the government’s first currency (greenbacks) and in 1863 created the first National Bank. The bank issued currency and coins and raised funds by selling bonds that were, for the first time, guaranteed by the Federal Government.

Salmon enjoyed the power and prestige that accompanied his office. Since he was responsible for the design of the first federal notes, he decided that it would be nice if his picture was on the ten dollar bill. So, it was!

Chase received letters from several people around the country including Rev. M. R. Watkinson, a minister in Pennsylvania, suggesting that he recognize God on US currency. Chase agreed saying, “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.” He immediately directed the 2-cent piece to be struck with the words “In God We Trust.”

In 1864 Chase left the Lincoln administration and was subsequently named Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, a position he held until his death on May 7, 1873.

Remember the Chase Manhattan Bank or perhaps its current name – J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.? It’s the same Chase. Though he never had any affiliation with that bank, its founders named it after him.

So there you go; another New Hampshire son that made good. And lest we forget… In whom do you put your trust? Your trust being in God, your faith is well founded!

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