An 1873 law permitted, but did not require, use of the motto. It also appeared soon after the Civil War, if inconsistently, on nickels, quarters, half dollars and silver and gold dollars. The biblically derived phrase first appeared in 1864, on the 2-cent coin, when Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase urged its adoption. The Senate approved the measure less than three weeks later. It won quick support from the Banking and Currency Committee and cleared the House on an unrecorded voice vote. Herman Eberharter of Pennsylvania and Oren Harris of Arkansas furthered Bennett’s initiative. The Democrats have fielded a candidate in the northeastern Florida district only four times since Bennett’s retirement in 1992, and none of them has cleared the 35 percent mark.)ĭemocratic Reps. (Bennett, who died in 2003 at age 93, remains the longest-serving member of either house of Congress in Florida’s history. “In these days,” he said, “when imperialistic and materialistic communism seeks to attack and destroy freedom, we should continually look for ways to strengthen the foundations of our freedom.” In introducing the bill, Bennett, who served 44 years in the House, invoked the Cold War.
