■ The legend “In God We Trust” on our coins appears to be awkward. Why couldn’t the legend have been phrased as something such as “We Trust in God?”
The January 1748 The Pennsylvania Gazette used “In God We Trust” to describe the colors of Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania militia. In 1785 Isaac Watts’ Psalter was modified for an American audience by Joel Barlow, including Psalm 115: 9-11 with words phrased as “In God We Trust.” The phrase as it now reads gained traction in both the North and the South by the time of the Civil War.
