Why did it take so long for Presidents to appear on coins?

Zoins

The US Mint was experimenting with Presidents on circulation coins since at least 1866, a year after Lincoln was assassinated.

Why did it take over 40 years until 1909 for Presidents to show up on circulation coins?

And whose idea was it to use Presidents?

These two are from Bob Simpson. The Washington piece may have been struck privately by John W. Haseltine. Is there any other known provenance for these?

SaorAlba

The first three presidents to appear on coinage did so many decades after their term of office and even their lives had ended. The last two appeared on coinage mere months after their passing.

I've wondered, knowing what we know now about the latter two - would they still be selected for memorialization on coinage long after their demise?

Nysoto

A quote from a book I am very familiar with, ""Previously, in March of 1792, Congress had opposed using a portrait of the president on American coinage, believing it to be a monarchial practice. Republican John Page emphasized the importance of promoting Liberty as a symbol on coins, for the citizens of the United States, and to "guard against anything which could possibly endanger their liberties.""

ricko

@Nysoto is correct... People were more conscious of the priceless gift of liberty and the Republic back then and did not want to elevate elected officials to such an exalted state. Cheers, RickO

mothra454

@ricko said:
@Nysoto is correct... People were more conscious of the priceless gift of liberty and the Republic back then and did not want to elevate elected officials to such an exalted state. Cheers, RickO

Good point. I mean, rumor has it that the practice of putting his portrait on coins was what got Caesar assassinated 2000 years ago! The Lincoln cent set the precedent (pun intended) in 1909 and it was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth. I guess by 1932 they figured that the republic hadn't collapsed because of a dead president on a coin, so they stuck Washington on one. That must have opened the floodgates cuz after that any time a president died they stuck him on one. I'm surprised they never made an LBJ 20 cent piece!

olympicsos

The Lincoln Cent and its popularity opened the floodgates to more presidents on coins. Now politics have gotten in the way of good circulating coin designs which don't depict a specific person. I don't think anyone besides Lincoln, SBA and maybe Washington would be on a circulating coin if we knew what we know now about the other historical figures on circulating coins.

BryceM

Because we had lofty ideals and we were able to preserve them for quite a while.

hatchet

I wish it had taken longer than it did. Much, much longer.

CoinJunkie

Maybe because there weren't enough good ones to cover the denominations until FDR...

(humor alert)

Zoins

@Nysoto said:
A quote from a book I am very familiar with, ""Previously, in March of 1792, Congress had opposed using a portrait of the president on American coinage, believing it to be a monarchial practice. Republican John Page emphasized the importance of promoting Liberty as a symbol on coins, for the citizens of the United States, and to "guard against anything which could possibly endanger their liberties.""

Good info, but what changed? Who emphasized the importance of promoting US leaders and when?

PhillyJoe

I think it was more tradition. King George was on the British coins and we didn't want to follow. Washington opposed efforts to put his imagine on a coin.
Just as Washington started the tradition of of only two terms; that lasted until the 1940's.

johnny9434

values changed

hatchet

from the US Mint website:

When the Lincoln one-cent coin made its initial appearance in 1909, it marked a radical departure from the accepted styling of United States coins, introducing as it did for the first time a portrait coin in the regular series. A strong feeling had prevailed against using portraits on our coins, but public sentiment stemming from the 100th anniversary celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birth proved stronger than the long-standing prejudice.

and

In 1909 he became the first American President to be featured on a circulating coin when Theodore Roosevelt and the United States Treasury Department decided to celebrate his 100th birthday by redesigning the one-cent coin. The decision to change the design of the 1909 penny was reported in the Annual Report of the Director of the Mint without any explanation of the reasons why the Agency was abandoning more than 115 years of tradition by placing the image of a President on a circulating coin. Researchers and numismatists appear to agree that Theodore Roosevelt’s earlier discussions with sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens may also have included the topic of honoring Lincoln, but the artist’s death in 1907 ended the possibility of a Saint-Gaudens designed coin commemorating the birth of our 16th president.

cladking

People started realizing that congress was the opposite of progress so they wanted to honor politicians and statesmen.

Actually before the 20th century people were more likely to want idealized symbols of the country and good art more than symbols of leadership. The country was still steeped in the idealism of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution rather than politics and the mundane issues of who did what or how he did it.

Nysoto

@PhillyJoe:

Washington opposed efforts to put his imagine on a coin.

That can be inferred by how Congress overwhelmingly voted on the matter in March of 1792, but I don't believe there is any specific instruction from George Washington that exists in documents.

@Zoins:

Good info, but what changed? Who emphasized the importance of promoting US leaders and when?

Good questions. RWB would know. There must have been congressional or executive action that superseded Section 10 of the Coinage Act of 1792 "there shall be an impression emblematic of liberty...there shall be the figure or representation of an eagle." [Ag and Au for eagle] Or perhaps they just ignored the ideological intent of Section 10 and railroaded it through.

Joe_360

But Christopher Columbus was first....

Smudge

We used to be smarter.

DNADave

@Smudge said:
We used to be smarter.

Almost exactly what I was thinking. People had better taste back then. They had manners and were more civilized as a whole.

Icollecteverything

@PhillyJoe said:
I think it was more tradition. King George was on the British coins and we didn't want to follow. Washington opposed efforts to put his imagine on a coin.

This is what I remember reading about Washington. We had fought a war so we were not ruled by a king any longer and it was liberty and the people that were important, not him.

TwoSides2aCoin

It only took this president less than a year. He was here when I was in 3rd grade. He was on the coin when I was in 4th. And it was silver.

koynekwest

I can't answer your question but I wish they would leave. I'd like to see a return to the symbolism that was portrayed in the first and second decade of the last century.

daltex

While we're at it, can we please stop putting (poor) representations of classic designs on commemoratives and bullion coins? Of course we had the collision of the two with the 50th anniversary Kennedys.