Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808-May 7, 1873) was the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under President Lincoln.
He served as the Governor of Ohio, a U.S. Senator and was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
He was a strong opponent of slavery, defending so many escaped slaves when he first started practicing law that he was given the nickname "Attorney-General of Fugitive Slaves."
On November 20, 1861, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Portland Chase wrote to the Director of the Mint in Philadelphia:
<Dear Sir,
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.
You will cause a device to be prepared without unnecessary delay with a motto expressing in the fewest and tersest words possible this national recognition.
Yours truly,
(Sgd). S.P. Chase.> 1808SC001
On December 9, 1863, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Portland Chase, wrote to the Director of the Mint, James Pollock:
<I approve your mottos, only suggesting that on that with the Washington obverse, the motto should begin with the word "Our," so as to read: "Our God and our Country." And on that with the shield, it should be changed so as to read: "In God We Trust."> 1808SC002
On March 3, 1865, the Congress of the United States of America approved the Treasury Secretary Salmon Portland Chase's instruction to the U.S. Mint to prepare a "device" to inscribe U.S. coins with the motto:
<In God We Trust.> 1808SC003 Salmon Portland Chase declared:
<Give me solid and substantial religion; give me an humble, gentle lover of God and man; a man full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy; a man laying himself out in the works of faith, the patience of hope, the labor of love. Let my soul be with those Christians, wheresoever they are, and whatsoever opinion they are of.> 1808SC004
<When shall I be thoroughly imbued with a humble, self-denying, Holy Spirit? O Lord, my Saviour, do Thou assist and teach me!...
Today I rose too late; attended private and family prayers; afterwards read several chapters in Leviticus, having again began to read the Scriptures in course, intending to read the Old Testament in private, and the New with the family. It is my deliberate opinion that all the writings of all moral and political writers do not contain so much practical wisdom, whether applicable to state or persons.> 1808SC005
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1808SC001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Salmon Portland Chase, November 20, 1861, in correspondence to the Director of the Mint, Philadelphia.
1808SC002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Salmon Portland Chase, December 9, 1863, in correspondence to the James Pollock, Director of the Mint, Philadelphia.
1808SC003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Salmon Portland Chase. "Our Christian Heritage," Letter from Plymouth Rock (Marlborough, NH: The Plymouth Rock Foundation), p. 6. Keith J. Hardman, Christianity & The Civil War-The Christian History Timeline (Carol Stream, IL: Christian History, 1992), Vol. XI, No. 1, p. 33. In 1955, the Congress of the United States passed a bill, signed by President Eisenhower, providing that all United States currency should bear the words "In God We Trust." The World Book Encyclopedia, 18 vols. (Chicago, IL: Field Enterprises, Inc., 1957; W.F. Quarrie and Company, 8 vols., 1917; World Book, Inc., 22 vols., 1989), Vol. 11, p. 5182.
1808SC004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Salmon Portland Chase. J.W. Schnuckers, Life and Public Services of Salmon P. Chase. Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987; Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas), p. 79.
1808SC005. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Salmon Portland Chase. Robert B. Warden, Private Life and Public Services of Salmon P. Chase. Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, Oregon: American Heritage Ministries, 1987; Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas), p. 79-80.