James Pollock and In God We Trust

James Pollock was born in Milton, Pennsylvania, in eighteen ten and served as Governor of Pennsylvania from eighteen fifty-five to eighteen fifty-eight. His administration reduced state debt, sold off state-owned canals and railroads, and passed the Normal School Act of eighteen fifty-seven, which created regional teacher training institutions across Pennsylvania. Penn State received its charter while he was governor.

But Pollock's most lasting mark came later. Appointed Director of the Philadelphia Mint in eighteen sixty-one, he urged a religious motto on American coins, and In God We Trust first appeared on the two-cent piece in eighteen sixty-four. It was not on every coin at first, but it has been on all United States coins since nineteen thirty-eight.

Pollock is buried at Milton Cemetery, not far from where he was born.