Ohio Motto
With God All Things Are Possible
On October 1, 1959, Ohio made “With God All Things Are Possible” its state motto. During a contest in the early 1950s sponsored by the Ohio Legislature to select a state motto, a twelve-year-old boy named James Mastronardo recommended this quotation from the bible.
In 1997, The American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit against Ohio and its state motto claiming the biblical quotation violated the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution. However, the state motto was not changed as it does not endorse a specific God and so was not deemed a violation of the first amendment.