New U.S. dollar coins hide 'In God We Trust'

New U.S. dollar coins hide 'In God We Trust'
On gold-colored presidential pieces, national motto relegated to thin edge

WASHINGTON – "In God We Trust," the official national motto since 1956 and a familiar sight on U.S. coins and currency, will be hard to find on the new presidential dollar coins scheduled for release to the public Feb. 15, 2007.

The new gold-colored dollar pieces, featuring images of U.S. presidents, will move the inscription from the face of the coin to the thin edge, along with the year and the previous national motto, "E Pluribus Unum," Latin for "Out of Many, One."

The official reason for the design change? To allow space for larger portraits of the presidents on the face and the Statue of Liberty on the reverse, according to the Mint.

The new coins will be the same size as the 1979 Susan B. Anthony and the 2000-2002 Sacajawea.

Images of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are scheduled to appear on the coins in 2007, with a different president appearing every three months.

The series will honor four different presidents per year, in the order they served in office. Each president will appear on only one coin, except for Grover Cleveland, who will be on two because he was the only president to serve non-consecutive terms. To be depicted on a coin, a president must have been dead for at least two years.

"In God We Trust" became the national motto by an act of Congress in 1956 and officially superseded "E Pluribus Unum."

The most common place where the motto is observed in daily life is on U.S. currency and coinage. The first United States coin to bear this national motto was the 1864 two-cent piece. It wasn't until 1957 that the motto was permanently adopted for use on U.S. money.

 

New dollar coins place 'In God We Trust' along thin edge instead of front or back