American coins: the portrait rules Congress actually enacted
American coins have featured Benjamin Franklin, Susan B. Anthony, and Sacagawea, none of whom served as president. The American Numismatic Association identifies all three as people honored on circulating coinage. The enacted design laws make the distinction especially concrete. Congress named Anthony in the 1978 dollar legislation, preserved the Sacagawea design in later dollar programs, and separately established eligibility rules for presidential portraits. A restriction within the presidential series did not make the presidency a qualification for every portrait on the nation's money.
An older statute began from an ideal rather than a named officeholder. Section 18 of the Coinage Act of 1873 required an impression emblematic of liberty on one side, together with the word Liberty and the year. The reverse generally carried an eagle and national inscriptions, with exceptions for several small denominations. Its language did not prescribe a president's head as the universal image of liberty. The law established devices and lettering for American coins while allowing the emblem itself to take different artistic forms.
The Susan B. Anthony Dollar Coin Act, approved October 10, 1978, made a particular person part of the specification. Section 3 directed that the dollar's obverse bear Anthony's likeness. Its reverse was to carry a design emblematic of the symbolic Apollo 11 eagle landing on the moon. Congress paired an identified woman with a spaceflight emblem, rather than describing either side as a presidential tribute. The law's title and operative language both name Anthony, leaving little room to treat the portrait as an anonymous personification of Liberty.
The change extended to the physical denomination. Section 2 of the 1978 act replaced the earlier dollar's diameter figure of 1.500 with 1.043 and its weight figure of 22.68 with 8.1 in the governing legislation. Section 5 allowed the Treasury secretary to continue issuing the previously authorized dollar until January 1, 1979. The portrait instruction therefore accompanied a specified transition in size, weight, and production authority. It was legislation for an actual monetary denomination, not simply an authorization to make a medal showing an admired historical figure.
Congress approached presidential dollars as a distinct program in the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005. For the series beginning in 2007, the obverse was to show a president's name and likeness, years of service, and a number identifying the order of that period of service. The reverse was to show the Statue of Liberty, the denomination, and the country's name. The act barred portraits of living current or former presidents and of former presidents during the two years following death. Those requirements expressly concerned coins issued under that subsection.
The same 2005 act also preserved the Sacagawea-design dollar alongside the new presidential series. Its continuity provision directed continued production of the preceding design, including Sacagawea, and initially set a minimum circulation quantity. Congress was consequently legislating for presidential and nonpresidential portraits together. The distinction was deliberate within the text itself: one set of provisions described a succession of presidents, while another protected an existing nonpresidential design. The legislation did not require Sacagawea's image to disappear when presidential portraits arrived.
The Native American $1 Coin Act of 2007 expanded that arrangement. It required the Sacagawea design to remain on the obverse while changing reverse imagery to honor Native Americans and their contributions to United States history. Its initial starting date of 2008 was subject to a delayed-date clause: enactment after August 25, 2007 substituted 2009. The act was approved September 20, 2007, so that clause applied. The resulting schedule comes from both the operative instruction and its condition, rather than the starting year printed in the subsection heading alone.
Design selection for these American coins went beyond choosing another face. Reverse proposals were to involve consultation with congressional Native American bodies, the Commission of Fine Arts, and the National Congress of American Indians, followed by review by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee. Suggested subjects included the Cherokee written language, the Iroquois Confederacy, Jim Thorpe, and military code talkers. The act required one principal Native American contribution each year and retained the Sacagawea design on the other side. These American coins could therefore combine a continuing portrait with a changing historical subject.
The differences also extended to quantities and use. The 2007 legislation required Sacagawea-design pieces to make up at least 20% of dollar coins minted and issued in a year and directed an ongoing campaign encouraging businesses to accept and dispense them. Those provisions concerned circulation as well as design.
The 2005 act also established a separate First Spouse bullion program with a nominal ten-dollar denomination. Its obverse instructions called for the spouse's name and likeness, years as first spouse, and the presidential period's order number, with reverse images representing that spouse's life and work. For a president who served without a spouse, the act generally substituted an earlier image of Liberty. It made a specific exception for Chester Arthur's corresponding coin, requiring the likeness of suffrage strategist Alice Paul. Even this legislation centered on presidents expressly authorized portraits of other named people.
- United States Congress — Susan B. Anthony Dollar Coin Act of 1978 — www.govinfo.gov
- United States Congress — Coinage Act of 1873, section 18, emblems and inscriptions — www.govinfo.gov
- United States Congress — Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005, portrait eligibility and Sacagawea continuity — www.govinfo.gov
- United States Congress — Native American $1 Coin Act of 2007 — www.govinfo.gov
- American Numismatic Association — Coin Collecting FAQs, nonpresidential circulating portraits — www.money.org