Decision Nine: "In God We Trust"

• 1862 -1863 was a very trying time for Abraham Lincoln

• In February 62 his favorite child, William Wallace Lincoln, died in the white house; this caused tremendous trauma for Mrs. Lincoln that she never overcame. Lincoln believed that God was trying to get a message to him through his son's death.
  "When the overwhelming sorrow came upon us, our beautiful bright angelic boy, Willie was called away from us, to his Heavenly Home, with God's chastising hand upon us - he [Abe] turned his heart to Christ." - Mary Todd Lincoln to James Smith

• In June, General McClellan was dominated by General Lee on the James Peninsula

• In August, General Pope was dominated by General Lee at Second Bull Run

• In September, General McClellan failed to end the war at Antietam Creek

• In December, at Fredericksburg, VA, Lee slaughtered Burnside, causing Lincoln to say "if there is a worse place than hell, I am in it."

• Many ministers visited Lincoln in Washington, telling him that the reason he is having such bad military fortune is because he has not made the Civil War into a moral and religious crusade

• Lincoln heard the following kinds of appeals:

  • • • Quakers visit the White House on June 20, 1862, petitioning for emancipation to avert God's wrath

      • Sarah J. Hale urges Lincoln to proclaim an annual Thanksgiving Day to God

      • Rev. Mark Watkinson requests a religious motto on coins

• The Star Spangled Banner, written in 1814, included this line, "this is our motto, in God is our trust"

• At Antietam, there was a religious group of soldiers who charged forward using the motto, "In God We Trust."

DECISION: You are Lincoln. You believe that God was speaking through your son's death. The defacto motto for the nation is the non-religious phrase E Pluribus Unum. Do you believe that placing the new motto "In God We Trust" on American money from now on as proposed by the ministers and Secretary Chase might help your war cause?

Click here to discover what Lincoln did