Sacagawea Dollar - Background

Background

Due to the limited circulation of the Eisenhower dollar, it was decided in the 1970s that a smaller dollar coin might prove more useful to the public. On September 26, 1978, Congress approved legislation to provide for a smaller dollar coin to be minted, which would depict Susan B. Anthony, a prominent American suffragette. These new dollars also proved unpopular, due in large part to their similarity in size and metallic composition to the quarter-dollar. Since there was little interest in the coin as a circulating medium, most were placed in United States Mint and Federal Reserve vaults throughout the country, and mintage ceased after 1981.

Despite their initial lack of popularity, by the late 1990s the Treasury's supply of small dollar coins began to dwindle due to their widespread use in vending machines (including more than 9,000 stamp machines situated in post offices across the United States) and mass transit turnstiles. Beginning in 1997, several bills were introduced to Congress with the intent of resuming mintage of small-sized dollar coins to keep up with demand. On March 20 of that year, Arizona Republican Representative Jim Kolbe introduced legislation calling for more dollar coins to be minted. Four months later, on July 24, Republican Representative Michael Castle of Delaware, a member of the House Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, also introduced legislation, calling for the Statue of Liberty to be the subject of the design. On October 21, Minnesota Republican Rod Grams introduced a bill in the Senate, also calling for the mintage of a newly designed dollar coin. The final legislation authorizing the design and production of a new dollar coin was based on Grams' bill. Also on October 21, in a hearing before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology, Treasury Department officials gave their support for a new dollar coin, recommending that it be gold-colored with a distinctive edge, to make it easily distinguishable from the quarter-dollar. During this hearing, Philip N. Diehl, then Director of the Mint, estimated that it would take thirty months to begin production of the new coin.

The United States Senate approved the necessary legislation on November 9, 1997, and the House of Representatives did the same on November 13. On December 1 President Bill Clinton signed the 50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act, which became Public Law 105-124. Section four of the act, which is entitled "United States $1 Coin Act of 1997", provided for a new dollar coin to be struck, stating in part: "The dollar coin shall be golden in color, have a distinctive edge, have tactile and visual features that make the denomination of the coin readily discernible". The act also gave authority to the Secretary of the Treasury to continue production of the Susan B. Anthony dollar until production could begin on the new dollar coin. In total, more than 41 million 1999 Susan B. Anthony dollars were struck.