E pluribus unum

E pluribus unum (Latin: "Out of many, one") is a traditional motto of the United States.

E pluribus unum! what freemen and slaves?
The genius of liberty, maiden celestial,
Sat nigh that gay banner attempting to smile;
Alternately gazing on eagle and fetters,
The tears from her eyes trickled down all the while,
And she sighed where the banner of liberty waves,
o'er traitors, and tyrants, and heart-broken slaves. ~ The Primitive Methodist Magazine

Quotes

• I gazed on the mountains in grandeur majestic,
  I gazed on the vales—they were fruitful and fair;
  I gazed with delight on the lakes and the fountains,
  I gazed on the banner—the eagle was there.
  "E pluribus unum" exultingly waves,
  E pluribus unum! what freemen and slaves?
  The genius of liberty, maiden celestial,
  Sat nigh that gay banner attempting to smile;
  Alternately gazing on eagle and fetters,
  The tears from her eyes trickled down all the while,
  And she sighed where the banner of liberty waves,
  o'er traitors, and tyrants, and heart-broken slaves.
  • Primitive Methodist Magazine, 1862, p. 64 (written 1835)
• Our country's motto is E Pluribus Unum, out of many we are one. Will we stay true to that motto? Well, we heard Donald Trump's answer last week at his convention. He wants to divide us from the rest of the world and from each other. He's betting that the perils of today's world will blind us to its unlimited promise. He's taken the Republican Party a long way, from morning in America to midnight in America. He wants us to fear the future and fear each other. Well, you know, a great Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt came up with the perfect rebuke to Trump more than 80 years ago during a much more perilous time: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!
  • Hillary Clinton, 2016 Democratic National Convention Acceptance Speech, July 28, 2016

• E pluribus unum, the constructive principle of federation, In God We Trust, the recognition of God's limitless fatherhood — these two watchwords, together with that of Liberty, should be our creed, not that spurious label democracy which our American forebears despised and execrated.
  • Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, The Menace of the Herd (1943), p. 9