United States national motto

The modern motto of the United States of America, as established in a 1956 law signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, is "In God we trust".

Written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key (and later adopted as the U.S. national anthem on March 3, 1931 by U.S. President Herbert Hoover), the song contains an early reference to a variation of the phrase: "And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.

'"[4] The change from "E Pluribus Unum" to "In God we trust" was generally considered uncontroversial at the time, given the rising influence of organized religion and pressures of the Cold War era in the 1950s.

The 1956 law was one of several legislative actions Congress took to differentiate the United States from atheistic communism.

The constitutionality of the modern national motto has been questioned with relationship to the separation of church and state outlined in the First Amendment.