Ohio State Motto

The story doesn't end here, however. The American Civil Liberties Union decided in 1997 that the Ohio state motto with God as main character was a direct attack on religious freedom and the case went all the way to court.

The result of the ensuing lawsuits was that the Ohio motto was perceived not to violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The reasoning was that the Ohio state motto did not refer to a specific God of any particular religion - in other words the Ohio motto "With God All Things Are Possible" is open for interpretation.

Other state mottos that like the Ohio state motto refer to God or a Deity is Arizona, Colorado, Florida, and South Dakota.

Ohio State Nicknames

Whereas there is only one Ohio state motto, there exist a number of state nicknames for Ohio:

"The Buckeye State" (Official)
The word buckeye is a translation from a Native American language. The nut was referred to as "hetuck" meaning buck eye, it simply resembles a deer's beautiful brown eye.

There are many references as to the origin of this Ohio state nickname.

1) "The Buckeye State" may refer to the many buckeye trees that cover much of Ohio's soil...

2) ... but it is more probable that the nickname was born back in the 1840’ies when William Henry Harrison was running for presidency.

The opposition's newspaper made a campaign against Harrison stating that he was "better suited to sit in a log cabin and drink hard cider".

This statement was successfully turned around to Harrison’s advantage when calling Harrison “the log cabin candidate”.

Harrison's emblem was subsequently designed as a log cabin of buckeye timbers and buckeyes decorating the walls. Buckeye canes were carried by Harrison's supporters.

This clever defensive move turned into a great success and Harrison became president in 1840 and beat his opponent President Martin Van Buren's efforts for re-election.