“In God we trust” vs “self-reliance”: are these two ideals opposed to one another? Are they contradictory? Ralph Waldo Emerson and others of the so-called “New England Transcendentalists” were proponents of the ideal of “self-reliance” while the official motto of the United States is “In God We Trust.” In whom shall we place our trust and rely on for guidance, God or our self, or both?"