Pull a quarter out of your pocket and look on the reverse (tails) side of the coin. If it’s an older Liberty quarter, look just under the “United States of America.” And there you will see it:” e pluribus unum.” On newer coins it usually appears near the edge. 
The phrase has had a long history with the United States. It first appeared on the Great Seal of the United States in 1782. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson pushed it to become the country’s official motto. Although it never did achieve that status, it was widely accepted to be our de facto motto. The first time it was put on a U.S. coin was in 1795.
So, what does it mean?
Translated from the Latin, it reads: “Out of many, one.” To our founders the phrase had an almost mystical meaning. Each of the phrase’s thirteen letters represented one of the original states- each sovereign and independent under the old Articles of Confederation. With the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1787, the thirteen states (the many) became the United States (the one)
The phrase took on even a greater significance. Despite having come from many countries, with different faiths, speaking different languages, of different races, we became one people-Americans. We did this by recognizing and accepting certain truths and guiding principles, found in the Declaration of Independence, as our common creed, which both native-born and emigrants embraced.
The Declaration proclaimed that “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” were rights given to us by God that could not be taken away by man. The legitimacy of our government stems from the consent of the People. The Constitution was drafted to put these principles into practice.
Adhering to these guiding principles have united us. Though we have not always met these standards, we have always aspired to do so. There have been differences over policy issues which, at times, have been spirited. But in the end, we always knew that there was more that united us as a People than what divided us.
Can we make that claim today?
The very fabric of our society has been unraveling since the 1970s when the Neo-Marxian theory of “identity politics” emerged. Simply put, the theory says we should identify with the group or groups that we belong to- our race, ethnicity, gender, This has led to competition between the groups. We now tend to see our differences rather than what we Americans have in common. Is it any wonder that we have become a divided people.
Over 100 years ago Theodore Roosevelt spoke out against an early version of identity politics that he called “hyphenated Americans,” people seeing themselves as “Irish-Americans” or “German-Americans.” He argued that someone who does this “is not an American at all.” The nation would not survive, he railed, if we permitted ” it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities…. each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic.”
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. echoed similar thoughts when he said, “I look forward to the day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
The success of identity politics is obvious. If we are to survive this crisis, we need to rediscover the wisdom of our founders and re establish the old motto- “e pluribus unum.” Only then can we move forward as one?
Gary Knepp is Clermont County’s honorary historian and is the author of eight books about Clermont’s history. Knepp’s website is www.garyknepp.com.