But did Washington really say "so help me God?" There is no evidence that he did. In fact, no one said he did until 1854, 65 years later, when Rufus Griswold, an editor and literary critic, told the story in a book titled The Republican Court: "[Washington] added, with fervor, his eyes closed, that his whole soul might be absorbed in the supplication, 'So help me God!'"
As a professor of U.S. history, I don't care if Washington said it or not; my interest is in how quickly "so help me God" became established in the American national memory.
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