Breanna McOmber

History 1700-54

Reflection Essay

I have written three papers discussing the whys and whats about the mentioning of
God or form of God in important American articles. Specifically, the phrase In God We Trust
on US currency, the words Under God in our Pledge of Allegiance and the words endowed by
our creator in the Declaration of Independence. I attempted to depict what was happening in
our history at the time these were implicated as well as how it could have contributed to their
addition in the first place.

To do this I felt I needed to understand the initial meaning meant by the person who
wrote or readied the final decision to have such phrases involved in items so communal as
national currency, pledges and documents. I also felt the need to research events happening
around the times these national phrases were added and written. Thus, I have come to the
following conclusions

Thomas Jefferson was the culprit for the inclusion of endowed by our creator in the
Declaration of Independence. I briefly studied his religious beliefs and came to find he was a
deist. Deism is the belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does
not intervene in the universe besides providing a form of a creator who created the universe.
Which explained why he used the word creator instead of God. It was interesting to find he
was against Christianity besides the use of it as a means to ingrain good moral in American
society. In addition to understanding Jeffersons beliefs I also studied the full first paragraph of
the Declaration and compared the words to what was going on at the time. It was a revolution.
The U.S. was defining a new government and claiming their independence from the crown. His
reference to the words endowed by our creator after claiming that all men are created equal
as such is endowed by our creator. As if to say a birthright more than reference a God.

As for the phrase, In God We Trust on our currency, I found it was added first on cent
pieces in 1864. This was interesting because the timeframe coincided with the time of the civil
war which began in 1861. Apparently, there had been requests to the Secretary of the Treasury,
Salmon P. Chase, to consider the inclusion of a God like phrase since 1861 but it was only
ultimately approved in 1864. So, I concluded this was a hard time for people and war always
brings people closer to the idea of God because there is life after death in such a belief and with
that comes hope and a means of uplifting dim spirits.

With the addition of the words Under God in our Pledge of Allegiance in Ito find a
similar pattern as with the phrase In God We Trust on our currency. It was a response to war
times. We

So, to conclude my essays, I found our currency changed because the idea of God
brought hope and trust to American who were afraid of a dim post-Civil War future. Under God
was the fault of Communism and used to unify and bring courage to the nation and the
Declaration of Independence had more to do with addressing the initial right of a man as
created equal amongst others and to not be seen to sub-serve to royalty.