1.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
2.
Troy weight
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Troy weight is a system of units of mass customarily used for precious metals and gemstones. One troy ounce equals 31.1034768 grams exactly, there are only 12 troy ounces per troy pound, rather than the 16 ounces per pound found in the more common avoirdupois system. However, the pound has 7000 grains whereas the troy pound has only 5760 grains. Both systems use the same grain defined by the international yard, therefore the troy ounce is 480 grains, compared with the avoirdupois ounce, which is 437.5 grains. So the troy ounce is about 10% heavier than the avoirdupois ounce, although troy ounces are still used to weigh gold, silver, and gemstones, troy weight is no longer used in most other applications. One troy ounce of gold is denoted with the ISO4217 currency code XAU, troy weight probably takes its name from the French market town of Troyes in France where English merchants traded at least as early as the early 9th century. The name troy is first attested in 1390, describing the weight of a platter, the word troni refers to markets. Watson finds the dialect word troi, meaning a balance in Wrights Dialect Dictionary, troy weight referred to the tower system, the earliest reference to the modern troy weights is in 1414. Many aspects of the weight system were indirectly derived from the Roman monetary system. The Romans used bronze bars of varying weights as currency, an aes grave weighed 1 pound. One twelfth of an aes grave was called an uncia, or in English an ounce, before the adoption of the metric system, many systems of troy weights were in use in various parts of Europe, among them Holland troy, Paris troy, etc. Their values varied from one another by up to several percentage points, troy weights were first used in England in the 15th century, and were made official for gold and silver in 1527. The British Imperial system of weights and measures was established in 1824, the troy ounce in use today is essentially the same as the British Imperial troy ounce, adopted as an official weight standard for United States coinage by Act of Congress on May 19,1828. The British Imperial troy ounce was based on, and virtually identical with, the pre-1824 British troy ounce, the English troy ounce was officially adopted for coinage in 1527. Troy ounces have been used in England since about 1400, before that, various sorts of troy ounces were in use on the continent. The troy ounce and grain were also part of the apothecaries system and this was long used in medicine, but has now been largely replaced by the metric system. The only troy weight in widespread use today is the British Imperial troy ounce, both are currently based on a grain of 0.06479891 gram, with 480 grains to a troy ounce. The British Empire abolished the 12-ounce troy pound in the 19th century, the origin of the troy weight system is unknown
3.
Denver Mint
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The Denver Mint is a branch of the United States Mint that struck its first coins on February 1,1906. The mint is still operating and producing coins for circulation, as well as mint sets, coins produced at the Denver Mint bear a D mint mark. The Denver Mint is the single largest producer of coins in the world, the predecessors of the Denver Mint were the men of Clark, Gruber and Company. During the Pikes Peak Gold Rush, they coined gold dust brought from the fields by the miners. In 1858, Austin M. Clark, Milton E. Clark and Emanuel Henry Gruber founded a firm in Leavenworth, Kansas. Desiring to save on shipping and insurance costs associated with shipping gold back east, the firm opened a private mint. On 25 July 1860, the mint opened in a two story building on the corner of Market and 16th Streets, minting $10 gold pieces at the rate of fifteen or twenty coins a minute. On the face is a representation of the peak, its surrounded by a forest of timber. Immediately under its base is the word Denver, and beneath it Ten D, on the reverse is the American Eagle encircled by the name of the firm Clark, Gruber & Co. and beneath the date,1860. A $20 gold coin was added, the weight will be greater, a $5 and a $2.5 gold coin were added, with production reaching $18,000 per week. On the front was the head of the Goddess of Liberty surrounded by thirteen stars, pikess Peak Gold, Denver was on the other side, with 5D. or 2 1/2 D. In the almost three years of operation, they minted $594,305 worth of Pikes Peak Gold in the form of gold coins, additionally, they purchased 77,000 troy ounces of raw gold, and shipped large amounts of dust to the Philadelphia Mint. The building, assaying and minting equipment was bought by the US Treasury in April 1863. Clark, Gruber & Co. remained a bank until bought by the First National Bank of Denver in 1865, established by an Act of Congress on April 21,1862, the United States Mint at Denver opened for business in late 1863 as a United States Assay Office. Operations began in the facilities of Clark, Gruber and Company, located at 16th and Market Streets and acquired by the government for $25,000, unlike Clark, Gruber and Company, though, the Denver plant performed no coinage of gold as first intended. One reason given by the Director of the Mint for the lack of coinage at Denver was, …the hostility of the Indian tribes along the routes, doubtless instigated by rebel emissaries and bad white men. Gold and nuggets brought there by miners from the area were accepted by the Assay Office for melting, assaying. The bars were returned to the depositors as imparted bars stamped with the weight
4.
Philadelphia Mint
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The Philadelphia Mint was created from the need to establish a national identity and the needs of commerce in the United States. This led the Founding Fathers of the United States to make an establishment of a national mint. The Coinage Act of 1792 was entered into law on April 2 and it proclaimed the creation of the United States Mint. Philadelphia at that time was the capital, therefore the first mint facility was built there. David Rittenhouse, an American scientist, was appointed the first director of the mint by President George Washington, two lots were purchased by Rittenhouse on July 18,1792, at Seventh Street and 631 Filbert Street in Philadelphia for $4,266.67. The next day, demolition of a whiskey distillery on the property began. Foundation work began on July 31, and by September 7, the smelt house was the first public building erected by the United States government. A three-story brick structure facing Seventh Street was constructed a few months later, measuring nearly 37 ft wide on the street, it only extended back 33 ft. The gold and silver for the mint were contained in basement vaults, the first floor housed deposit and weighing rooms, along with the press room, where striking coins took place. Mint official offices were on the floor, and the assay office was located on the third floor. A photograph of the Seventh Street building taken around 1908 show that by then the year 1792, between the smelt house and the building on Seventh Street, a mill house was built. Horses in the basement turned a mill located on the first floor. In January 1816, the smelt and mill houses were destroyed by a fire, the smelt house was never repaired and all smelting was done elsewhere. The mill house, which was destroyed, was soon replaced with a large brick building. It included a new engine in the basement to power the machinery. Until 1833, these three buildings provided the United States with hard currency, operations moved to the second Philadelphia mint in 1833, and the land housing the first mint was sold. In the late 19th or early 20th century, the property was sold to Frank Stewart, with no governmental help, the first mint was demolished between 1907 and 1911. Now, only a plaque remains to memorialize the spot
5.
Bela Lyon Pratt
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Bela Lyon Pratt was an American sculptor. Pratt was born in Norwich, Connecticut to Sarah and George Pratt and his maternal grandfather, Oramel Whittlesey, was a pianoforte maker and founder in 1835 of the first music school in the country authorized to confer degrees to teach music, Music Vale Seminary. At 16, Pratt began studying at the Yale University School of Fine Arts, after a short stint in Saint-Gaudens private studio, Pratt traveled to Paris, where he trained with sculptors Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu and Alexandre Falguière at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1892, he returned to the United States to create two large sculptural groups representing The Genius of Navigation for the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago and he also produced sculptures for the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo in 1901. In 1893, he began a 25-year career as a teacher of modeling in the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. One of Pratts most famous students at the School was John A. Wilson and he became an associate of the National Academy in 1900. When Saint-Gaudens uncompleted group for the entrance to the Boston Public Library was rejected, Pratt was awarded a commission for personifications of Art, Pratt continued Saint-Gaudens influence in coin design after 1907. His gold Indian Head half and quarter eagle gold U. S. coins are known as the Pratt coins and feature an unusual intaglio Indian head, a retrospective exhibition of 125 of his sculptures was held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in the spring of 1918. Henry Augustus Coit - St. Pauls School, Concord, New Hampshire 1906 Young Soldier - St. belalyonpratt. com A comprehensive website of all of Bela Lyon Pratts works Downes, the Work of Bela L. Pratt, Sculptor. Coburn, Frederick W. Americanism in Sculpture, as Represented in the Works of Bela Lyon Pratt. Palette and Bench 2, nos.5 and 6, 95-97, Bela L. Pratt, An Eminent New England Sculptor. The History of American Sculpture, New York,1924, 491-496
6.
New Orleans Mint
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The New Orleans Mint operated in New Orleans, Louisiana, as a branch mint of the United States Mint from 1838 to 1861 and from 1879 to 1909. During its years of operation, it produced over 427 million gold and silver coins of nearly every American denomination and it was closed during most of the American Civil War and Reconstruction. After it was decommissioned as a mint, the building has served a variety of purposes, including as an office, a United States Coast Guard storage facility. Since 1981 it has served as a branch of the Louisiana State Museum, damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, after over two years of repairs and renovations, the museum reopened in October 2007. As of April 2015, the museums exhibits include instruments used by some of New Orleans notable jazz musicians, photographs, and posters. The site is also a venue for jazz concerts, in partnership with the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park. The Louisiana Historical Center is located on the floor of the building. The center includes collections of manuscripts and maps, and primary and secondary source materials in a wide range of media. It is open to anyone with an interest in Louisiana history, the New Orleans Mint has been designated a National Historic Landmark, and it is the oldest extant structure to have served as a U. S. Mint. Along with the Charlotte Mint, it is one of two former mint facilities in the U. S. to house an art gallery, the rapidly growing United States in the early 1830s experienced a shortage of coins. It is estimated that in 1830 there was one small silver coin per person, also, production of silver dollars was suspended in 1804 because they were being exchanged for underweight Spanish coins in the West Indies. That left the half-dollar as the largest denomination of circulating coin being minted in the U. S, foreign coins were being circulated in the U. S. to alleviate the shortage. The Philadelphia Mint had been the only U. S. mint until 1838, in 1836 Jackson had issued an executive order called the Specie Circular which demanded that all land transactions in the United States be conducted in cash. Both of these actions, combined with the depression following the Panic of 1837 increased the domestic need for minted money. As a result, in 1835 the U. S. Federal Government established three branch mints, the Charlotte Mint in North Carolina, the Dahlonega Mint in Georgia, Dahlonega and Charlotte were in gold mining regions and these mints produced only gold coins. Large quantities of gold from Mexico also passed through its port annually, in the early 19th century, New Orleans, which was the fifth-largest city in the United States until the Civil War, conducted more foreign trade than any other city in the nation. It was also located relatively near to gold deposits discovered in Alabama. The Mints location occupies a prominent place in civic history and it sits at one of the two River corners of the French Quarter, which had been the entire city, or Vieux Carré, of New Orleans
7.
San Francisco Mint
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The San Francisco Mint is a branch of the United States Mint and was opened in 1854 to serve the gold mines of the California Gold Rush. It quickly outgrew its first building and moved into a new one in 1874 and this building, the Old United States Mint, also known affectionately as The Granite Lady, is one of the few that survived the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It served until 1937, when the present facility was opened, within the first year of its operation, the San Francisco mint turned $4 million in gold bullion into coins. The second building, completed in 1874, was designed by Alfred B, mullett in a conservative Greek Revival style with a sober Doric order. Heroic efforts by Superintendent of the Mint, Frank A. Leach, and his men preserved the building, the mint resumed operation soon thereafter, continuing until 1937. In 1961 the Old Mint, as it had known, was designated a National Historic Landmark. It also became a California Historical Landmark in 1974, the given name of The Granite Lady is somewhat of a misnomer as most of the building is made from sandstone. While the base/basement of the building is made of granite, the entire external, the Granite Lady was a marketing term given in the 1970s that stuck. The Old Mint was open to visitors until 1993, in the fall of 2005, ground was broken for renovations that would turn the central court into a glass-enclosed galleria. In 2006 Congress created the San Francisco Old Mint Commemorative Coin, the first phase of renovations were completed in 2011. In 2014, the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society began raising money for the second phase, in 2015, the City of San Francisco looked for a new tenant to renovate and program the space with Activate San Francisco Events being selected as an interim tenant. Until a new tenant is found, the Old Mint will continue to be used for special events, in April 2016, the California Historical Society agreed to undertake the restoration of the building and its preservation as a public space. The new Mint was opened in 1937, beginning in 1955, circulating coinage from San Francisco was suspended for 13 years. In 1968, it took over most proof coinage production from the Philadelphia Mint, from 1975 to 2012, the San Francisco Mint has been used only for proof coinage, with the exception of the Susan B. Anthony dollar from 1979–81 and a portion of the mintage of cents in the early 1980s, the dollars bear a mintmark of an S, but the cents are otherwise indistinguishable from those minted at Philadelphia. In 2012, the San Francisco mint started to mint circulation strike quarters in the America the Beautiful quarter series, marked with an S mintmark and only issued for collectors. From 1962 to 1988, the San Francisco Mint was officially an assay office, the San Francisco Mint is located at 155 Hermann Street, but only admits visitors on rare exception. On May 15,1987, a number of people were allowed to tour the facility
8.
United States Mint
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The United States Mint produces circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money, the Mint was created in Philadelphia in 1792, and soon joined by other centres, whose coins were identified by their own mint marks. There are currently four active coin-producing mints, Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, the Mint was created by Congress with the Coinage Act of 1792, and originally placed within the Department of State. Per the terms of the Coinage Act, the first Mint building was in Philadelphia, then the capital of the United States, today, the Mints headquarters are in Washington D. C. It operates mint facilities in Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, and West Point, New York and a bullion depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Official Mints were once located in Carson City, Nevada, Charlotte, North Carolina, Dahlonega, Georgia, New Orleans, Louisiana, Washington, D. C. and even in Manila. Originally part of the State Department, the Mint was made an independent agency in 1799 and it converted precious metals into standard coin for anyones account with no seigniorage charge beyond the refining costs. Under the Coinage Act of 1873, the Mint became part of the Department of the Treasury and it was placed under the auspices of the Treasurer of the United States in 1981. Legal tender coins of today are minted solely for the Treasurys account, the first Director of the United States Mint was renowned scientist David Rittenhouse from 1792 to 1795. The position was held most recently by Edmund C, moy until his resignation effective January 9,2011. Henry Voigt was the first Superintendent and Chief Coiner, and is credited with some of the first U. S. coin designs. Another important position at the Mint is that of Chief Engraver, the Mint has operated several branch facilities throughout the United States since the Philadelphia Mint opened in 1792, in a building known as Ye Olde Mint. With the opening of branch mints came the need for mint marks, the first of these branch mints were the Charlotte, North Carolina, Dahlonega, Georgia, and New Orleans, Louisiana branches. Both the Charlotte and Dahlonega Mints were opened to facilitate the conversion of gold deposits into coinage. The Civil War closed both these facilities permanently, the New Orleans Mint closed at the beginning of the Civil War and did not re-open until the end of Reconstruction in 1879. During its two stints as a facility, it produced both gold and silver coinage in eleven different denominations, though only ten denominations were ever minted there at one time. A new branch facility was opened in Carson City, Nevada, in 1870, it operated until 1893, like the Charlotte and Dahlonega branches, the Carson City Mint was opened to take advantage of local precious metal deposits, in this case, a large vein of silver. Though gold coins were produced there, no base metal coins were
9.
Quarter eagle
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The quarter eagle was a gold coin issued by the United States with a denomination of two hundred and fifty cents, or two dollars and fifty cents. It was given its name in the Coinage Act of 1792 and its purchasing power in 1800 would be equivalent to $71.12 in 2015 dollars. Designed by Robert Scot, the quarter eagle denomination was struck at the mint at Philadelphia, and branch mints in Charlotte, New Orleans. The first issues weighed 67.5 grains, fineness.9167, until the weight was modified to 64.5 grains, the Act of January 18,1837 established a fineness of.900. This means that 1837 and later quarter eagles contain 0.121 Troy Oz. of gold content, as relatively fewer coins were struck prior to 1834, combined with their higher gold content, all of the early issues range from scarce to rare. The first issues were struck in 1796, any proof date prior to 1856 is rare, and will command a premium in any condition. The quarter eagle denomination was discontinued in 1933 with the removal of the United States from the Gold Standard. Also known as the Turban Head, this interpretation of Liberty wearing a cap was designed by Robert Scot and was minted from 1796 to 1807. There were three varieties of this design, first came the Capped Bust facing right variety. There were two variations of design, no stars on the obverse, and stars on the obverse. The no stars variety was produced only in 1796, replaced with the stars, in 1808, Liberty was redesigned by John Reich, to be wearing more of a traditional cap rather than a turban. This design was minted for 1808 only, but in 1821 the mint reinstated the quarter eagle and it was produced again until 1827, in 1829, the quarter eagle was reduced in size again to 18.2 mm, and featured smaller letters and stars. This version of the design was produced until 1834, the Classic Head variety was designed by William Kneass, which featured a traditional maiden with a ribbon binding her long, curly hair. This variety omitted E pluribus unum from the reverse of the coin, in 1840, a coronet and smaller head were designed to conform with the appearance of the larger gold coins, therefore making the Classic Head design obsolete. The Classic Head design was produced from 1834 to 1839, also known as the Coronet Head, the Liberty head was designed to match the styles of the other gold Eagles the government was producing. The Liberty Head design was created by Christian Gobrecht and was produced successfully from 1840 to 1907, like its predecessor, this variety omitted E Pluribus Unum from the reverse. One notable date is 1848, when 230 ounces of gold were sent to the Secretary of War Marcy by Colonel R. B. Mason, the gold was turned over to the mint and promptly made into quarter eagles. The distinguishing mark CAL. was punched above the eagle on the reverse side of the coin
10.
Half eagle
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The Half Eagle is a United States coin that was produced for circulation from 1795 to 1929 and in commemorative and bullion coins since the 1980s. Composed almost entirely of gold, it has a value of five dollars. Its production was authorized by The Act of April 2,1792, the design and composition of the half eagle changed many times over the years, but it was originally designed by Robert Scot. At this time the coin contained.9167 gold and.0833 copper and silver and it had a diameter of approximately 25 mm, a weight of 8.75 grams, and a reeded edge. The obverse design, or Turban Head, depicted a portrait of Liberty facing to the right. The reverse depicted a small eagle and this type was produced from 1795 to 1798. Simultaneously, another type was minted that depicted a larger heraldic eagle on the reverse with the inscription E PLURIBUS UNUM and this type was produced through 1807. From 1807 to 1812, a new designed by John Reich was produced, the Draped Bust, featuring a round-capped Liberty facing left on the obverse. For the first time, the value 5 D. was placed on the reverse of the coin to indicate its value, in 1813 a modified version of the Draped Bust was introduced, removing much of the bustline and giving Liberty an overall larger appearance. This design which would last through 1834, another modification occurred in 1829 when the diameter of the coin was reduced slightly to 23.8 mm, although the overall design remained unchanged. By 1834, the gold in the eagle had been worth more than its face value for several years. The Act of June 28,1834 called for a reduction in the gold used. The weight of the coin was reduced to 8.36 grams, the reduced to 22.5 mm. A new obverse, the Classic Head, was created by William Kneass for the altered coin, the reverse still depicted the modified eagle introduced in 1813, but E PLURIBUS UNUM was removed to distinguish further the new composition. In 1837, the content of this type was increased to.900 in accordance with the Act of January 18,1837. In 1839 the coin was redesigned again, the new obverse was designed by Christian Gobrecht and is known as the Liberty Head or Coronet head. The reverse design remained largely the same, although the value was changed from 5 D. to Five D, for those struck at the Philidephia Mint, there was no longer any silver in the coin, its composition was now.900 gold and.100 copper. However, gold ore used at the branch mints of Charlotte and Dahlonega had a high natural silver content
11.
President of the United States
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The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is considered to be one of the worlds most powerful political figures, the role includes being the commander-in-chief of the worlds most expensive military with the second largest nuclear arsenal and leading the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP. The office of President holds significant hard and soft power both in the United States and abroad, Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president. The president is empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves. The president is responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of the party to which the president is a member. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policy of the United States, since the office of President was established in 1789, its power has grown substantially, as has the power of the federal government as a whole. However, nine vice presidents have assumed the presidency without having elected to the office. The Twenty-second Amendment prohibits anyone from being elected president for a third term, in all,44 individuals have served 45 presidencies spanning 57 full four-year terms. On January 20,2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th, in 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, acting through the Second Continental Congress, declared political independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. The new states, though independent of each other as nation states, desiring to avoid anything that remotely resembled a monarchy, Congress negotiated the Articles of Confederation to establish a weak alliance between the states. Out from under any monarchy, the states assigned some formerly royal prerogatives to Congress, only after all the states agreed to a resolution settling competing western land claims did the Articles take effect on March 1,1781, when Maryland became the final state to ratify them. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies, with peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. Prospects for the convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washingtons attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia. It was through the negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the U. S. The first power the Constitution confers upon the president is the veto, the Presentment Clause requires any bill passed by Congress to be presented to the president before it can become law. Once the legislation has been presented, the president has three options, Sign the legislation, the bill becomes law. Veto the legislation and return it to Congress, expressing any objections, in this instance, the president neither signs nor vetoes the legislation
12.
Theodore Roosevelt
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Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was an American statesman, author, explorer, soldier, naturalist, and reformer who served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. As a leader of the Republican Party during this time, he became a force for the Progressive Era in the United States in the early 20th century. Born a sickly child with debilitating asthma, Roosevelt successfully overcame his health problems by embracing a strenuous lifestyle and he integrated his exuberant personality, vast range of interests, and world-famous achievements into a cowboy persona defined by robust masculinity. Home-schooled, he began a lifelong naturalist avocation before attending Harvard College and his first of many books, The Naval War of 1812, established his reputation as both a learned historian and as a popular writer. Upon entering politics, he became the leader of the faction of Republicans in New Yorks state legislature. Returning a war hero, he was elected governor of New York in 1898, the state party leadership distrusted him, so they took the lead in moving him to the prestigious but powerless role of vice presidential candidate as McKinleys running mate in the election of 1900. Roosevelt campaigned vigorously across the country, helping McKinleys re-election in a victory based on a platform of peace, prosperity. Following the assassination of President McKinley in September 1901, Roosevelt succeeded to the office at age 42, making conservation a top priority, he established a myriad of new national parks, forests, and monuments intended to preserve the nations natural resources. In foreign policy, he focused on Central America, where he began construction of the Panama Canal and he greatly expanded the United States Navy and sent the Great White Fleet on a world tour to project the United States naval power around the globe. His successful efforts to end the Russo-Japanese War won him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize, elected in 1904 to a full term, Roosevelt continued to promote progressive policies, but many of his efforts and much of his legislative agenda were eventually blocked in Congress. Roosevelt successfully groomed his close friend, William Howard Taft, to succeed him in the presidency, after leaving office, Roosevelt went on safari in Africa and toured Europe. Returning to the United States, he became frustrated with Tafts approach, failing to win the Republican presidential nomination in 1912, Roosevelt founded his own party, the Progressive, so-called Bull Moose Party, and called for wide-ranging progressive reforms. The split among Republicans enabled the Democrats to win both the White House and a majority in the Congress in 1912, Republicans aligned with Taft nationally would control the Republican Party for decades. Frustrated at home, Roosevelt led an expedition to the Amazon basin. During World War I, he opposed President Woodrow Wilson for keeping the country out of the war, and offered his military services, although planning to run again for president in 1920, Roosevelt suffered deteriorating health and died in early 1919. Roosevelt has consistently ranked by scholars as one of the greatest American presidents. Historians admire Roosevelt for rooting out corruption in his administration, but are critical of his 1909 libel lawsuits against the World and his face was carved into Mount Rushmore, alongside those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was born on October 27,1858, at East 20th Street in New York City and he was the second of four children born to socialite Martha Stewart Mittie Bulloch and glass businessman and philanthropist Theodore Roosevelt Sr
13.
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
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Augustus Saint-Gaudens was an American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who most embodied the ideals of the American Renaissance. In his later years he founded the Cornish Colony, a colony that included notable painters, sculptors, writers. His brother Louis Saint-Gaudens was also a sculptor with whom he occasionally collaborated. Born in Dublin to a French father and an Irish mother, Saint-Gaudens was raised in New York, in 1861, he became an apprentice to a cameo-cutter, Louis Avet, and took evening art classes at the Cooper Union. Two years later, he was hired as an apprentice of Jules Le Brethon, another cameo cutter, at age 19, his apprenticeship completed and he traveled to Paris in 1867, where he studied in the atelier of François Jouffroy at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1870, he left Paris for Rome, to art and architecture. Pierrepont, a phrenologist, proved to be a demanding client insisting that Saint-Gaudens make his head larger, in 1876, he won a commission for a bronze David Farragut Memorial. He rented a studio at 49 rue Notre Dame des Champs and it was unveiled on May 25,1881, in Madison Square Park. The statue stood on a 300-foot-high tower, making Diana the highest point in the city and it was also the first statue in that part of Manhattan to be lit at night by electricity. The statue and its tower was a landmark until 1925 when the building was demolished, in New York, he was a member of the Tilers, a group of prominent artists and writers, including Winslow Homer, William Merritt Chase and Arthur Quartley. He was also a member of the Salmagundi Club in New York, two grand equestrian monuments to Civil War generals are outstanding, to General John A. For the Lincoln Centennial in 1909, Saint-Gaudens produced another statue of the president, a seated figure, Abraham Lincoln, The Head of State, is in Chicagos Grant Park. Saint-Gaudens completed the work and had begun casting the statue at the time of his death—his workshop completed it. The statues head was used as the model for the postage stamp issued on the 100th anniversary of Lincolns birth. Saint-Gaudens also created the statue for the monument of Charles Stewart Parnell, with minor modifications, this medallion was reproduced for the Stevenson memorial in St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh. Stevensons cousin and biographer, Graham Balfour, deemed the work the most satisfactory of all the portraits of Stevenson, Balfour also noted that Saint-Gaudens greatly admired Stevenson and had once said he would gladly go a thousand miles for the sake of a sitting with him. Such pieces stand testament to both his appeal and the respect that was given to him by his contemporaries. His medals have been sold at auction for varying sums, a statue of philanthropist Robert Randall stands in the gardens of Sailors Snug Harbor in New York
14.
Eagle (United States coin)
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The eagle is a base-unit of denomination issued only for gold coinage by the United States Mint based on the original values designated by the Coinage Act of 1792. It has been obsolete as a circulating denomination since 1933, the eagle was the largest of the four main decimal base-units of denomination used for circulating coinage in the United States prior to 1933, the year when gold was withdrawn from circulation. These four main base-units of denomination were the cent, the dime, the dollar, and the eagle, where a dime is 10 cents, a dollar is 10 dimes, and an eagle is 10 dollars. The eagle base-unit of denomination served as the basis of the gold quarter-eagle, the gold half-eagle, the eagle, in this regard the United States followed long-standing European practice of different base-unit denominations for different precious and semi-precious metals. In the United States, the cent was the base-unit of denomination in copper, the dime and dollar were the base-units of denomination in silver. The eagle was the base-unit of denomination in gold although, unlike cent, dime, thus, a double eagle showed its value as twenty dollars rather than two eagles. The diameter of eagles was 27 mm, half eagles 21 mm, quarter eagles 17 mm, originally the purity of all circulating gold coins in the United States was eleven twelfths pure gold and one twelfth alloy. Under U. S. law, the alloy was composed only of silver and copper, thus, U. S. gold coins had 22/24 pure gold, at most 1/24 silver, with the remaining one–two 24ths copper. The weight of circulating, standard gold, eagles was set at 270 grains, half eagles at 135 grains and this resulted in the eagle containing 0.5156 troy ounces of pure gold. S gold coins. As a result, the specification for standard gold was lowered from 22 karat to.8992 fine. In 1837 a small change in the fineness of the gold was made, the new 1837 standard for the eagle was 258 grains of.900 fine gold, with other coins proportionately sized. Between 1838 and 1840, the content was reduced to zero—the eagle in 1838, half eagle in 1839. Using only copper as the alloy in gold coins matched long standing English practice, the 1837 standard resulted in a gold content of only 0.9675 troy ounces of gold per double eagle and 0.48375 troy ounces for the eagle. It would be used for all circulating gold coins until U. S. gold coin circulation was halted in 1933, as part of its Modern United States commemorative coins program the United States mint has issued several commemorative eagle coins. In 1984, an eagle was issued to commemorate the Summer Olympics, the pre-1933.900 fine gold standard was restored, this would also be used in half-eagle gold commemoratives as well. The coins would be identical in fineness and size to their counterparts of the same face value
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Double eagle
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A double eagle is a gold coin of the United States with a denomination of $20. The coins are made from a 90% gold and 10% copper alloy and have a weight of 1.0750 troy ounces. The eagle, half eagle, and quarter eagle were specifically given these names in the Act of Congress that originally authorized them, likewise, the double eagle was specifically created as such by name. The first double eagle was minted in 1849, coinciding with the California Gold Rush, in that year, the mint produced two pieces in proof. The first resides in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C, the second was presented to Treasury Secretary William M. Meredith and was later sold as part of his estate—the present location of this coin remains unknown. In 1850, regular production began and continued until 1933, prior to 1850, eagles with a denomination of $10 were the largest denomination of US coin. The $10 eagles were produced beginning in 1795, just two years after the first U. S. mint opened, since the $20 gold piece had twice the value of the eagle, these coins were designated double eagles. In 1866, the motto In God We Trust was added to the liberty coronet double eagle, in 1877, the coins denomination design on the reverse was changed from twenty D to twenty dollars creating a third and final subtype for the series. An 1879 pattern coin was made for the quintuple stella using a design combining features of the liberty head double eagle and stella pattern coin, however this coin was stolen in July 2008. The Saint-Gaudens double eagle is named for the designer, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, theodore Roosevelt imposed upon him in his last few years to redesign the nations coinage at the beginning of the 20th century. Saint-Gaudens work on the high-relief $20 gold piece is considered to be one of the most extraordinary pieces of art on any American coin. The mint eventually insisted on a version, as the high-relief coin took up to eleven strikes to bring up the details. Only 12,367 of these coins were struck in 1907 and these coins easily top the $10,000 price in circulated grades, but can reach nearly a half million dollars in the best states of preservation. There were several changes in the years of this design. The first coins issued in 1907 design featured a date in Roman numerals, the motto In God We Trust was omitted from the initial design, as Roosevelt felt that putting the name of God on money that could be used for immoral purposes was inappropriate. By act of Congress, the motto was added in mid-1908, the design of the Saint-Gaudens coin was slightly changed once more when New Mexico and Arizona became states in 1912, and the number of stars along the rim was accordingly increased from 46 to 48. Double eagles were routinely minted through 1933, although few of the very last years coinages were released before the recall legislation of that year. Accordingly, these issues bring very high prices, the Saint-Gaudens obverse design was reused in the American eagle gold bullion coins that were instituted in 1986
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Frank A. Leach
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Frank Aleamon Leach was a United States newspaperman who was Director of the United States Mint from 1906 to 1909. Frank A. Leach was born in Auburn, New York on August 19,1846, when he was a boy, his father moved to Sacramento, California to establish a bottling plant there, and Frank and his mother later joined his father there. In 1857, the moved to Napa, California. In 1867, at age 20, Leach became a publisher when he began publishing the Vallejo Evening-Chronicle. He married Mary Louise Powell in Vallejo in December 1870 and he published the Evening-Standard until 1886, when he moved to Oakland, California and founded the Oakland Enquirer. Leach retired from journalism in 1897 to become Superintendent of the San Francisco Mint, in 1907, on the recommendation of United States Secretary of the Treasury George B. Cortelyou, President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt named Leach Director of the United States Mint, Frank Leach died on June 19,1929. He is buried at Mountain View Cemetery, plot 14B, wild Life in California, Some of Its Birds, Animals and Flowers
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William Sturgis Bigelow
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William Sturgis Bigelow was an American physician and collector of Japanese art. He was one of the first Americans to live in Japan, a brilliant medical student, Bigelow received his degree in medicine from Harvard University in 1874, and continued his medical studies in Europe for five years, under Louis Pasteur. Though his primary interest was, accordingly, bacteriology, his father was a surgeon, in 1882, Bigelow traveled to Japan with Ernest Fenollosa and Edward Sylvester Morse. This may have been intended originally as simply a vacation from the world of medicine, there, he became an art collector, and traveled the country for some time, exploring it and studying its culture, art, and religion. Bigelow would eventually convert to Buddhism and he also contributed financially to the establishment of the Nihon Bijutsuin, which was founded by his friend and ofttimes traveling companion Okakura Kakuzō. A photographer, Bigelow recorded many of the sights he and his companions came across, returning to the United States, Bigelow donated over 40,000 objects of Japanese art to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and he was considered at once an epicure and a mystic, who professed an ascetic religion and wore beautiful Charvet haberdashery. She rejected the proposal but from then on their relationship became more intimate, during their relationship, he gave her a number of Japanese objects which she donated in 1930 to the Etnografski Muzej in Zagreb. Bigelow was the man who introduced Baron Kaneko Kentarō to Theodore Roosevelt by a letter of introduction. They first met in 1890 when Roosevelt was Head of the Civil Service Commission and he accepted the existence of both material and spiritual realms, many of his ideas were discussed in his book Buddhism and Immortality. Bigelow used the concept of selection as a mechanism for evolution. According to Bigelow spiritual evolution is when an individual emerges from unconditioned consciousness, next the individual moves to a level of celestial experience, and finally is able to return to the unconditioned consciousness from which all things emerge. Bigelow accepted both material and spiritual evolution, he believed Buddhism and science were compatible, a History of the Asiatic Department, A Series of Illustrated Lectures Given in 1957 by Kojiro Tomita. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,1990, works by or about William Sturgis Bigelow at Internet Archive Biography at BigelowSociety. com Hokusai Returns - Bigelows Ukiyo-e collection Seeing Hokusai in Boston. Thank this eccentric Brahmin, Boston Globe, March 26,2015
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Charles E. Barber
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Charles Edward Barber was the sixth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1879 until his death in 1917. Although Barbers coins were met with mixed reviews, he had a long and fruitful career in coinage, Barber did full coin designs and also reverse designs. Barber was born in London in 1840, the son of William Barber, in 1869, he was an assistant engraver at the United States Mint. In 1879, he succeeded his father, in the position as chief engraver, Barbers best-known designs are the eponymous Barber Barber dime, Barber quarter, and Barber half dollar, as well as the so-called V Liberty Head nickel. Some lesser known pattern coin designs by Barber include the trial copper-nickel cent, trial three-cent piece, and the $4 Stella Flowing Hair pieces. Citing the impracticality of the design, he was critical of Augustus St. Gaudens proposed high relief pattern for a new double eagle in 1908. Barber was succeeded as Chief Engraver by George T. Morgan
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World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
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Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt, commonly known as FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A Democrat, he won a record four presidential elections and emerged as a figure in world events during the mid-20th century. He directed the United States government during most of the Great Depression and he is often rated by scholars as one of the three greatest U. S. Presidents, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Roosevelt was born in 1882 to an old, prominent Dutch family from Dutchess County and he attended the elite educational institutions of Groton School, Harvard College, and Columbia Law School. At age 23 in 1905, he married Eleanor Roosevelt, and he entered politics in 1910, serving in the New York State Senate, and then as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson. In 1920, Roosevelt was presidential candidate James M. Coxs running mate and he was in office from 1929 to 1933 and served as a reform governor, promoting the enactment of programs to combat the depression besetting the United States at the time. In the 1932 presidential election, Roosevelt defeated incumbent Republican president Herbert Hoover in a landslide to win the presidency, Roosevelt took office while in the United States was in the midst of the worst economic crisis in its history. Energized by his victory over polio, FDR relied on his persistent optimism and activism to renew the national spirit. He created numerous programs to support the unemployed and farmers, and to labor union growth while more closely regulating business. His support for the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 added to his popularity, the economy improved rapidly from 1933–37, but then relapsed into a deep recession in 1937–38. The bipartisan Conservative Coalition that formed in 1937 prevented his packing the Supreme Court, when the war began and unemployment ended, conservatives in Congress repealed the two major relief programs, the WPA and CCC. However, they kept most of the regulations on business, along with several smaller programs, major surviving programs include the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Wagner Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Social Security. His goal was to make America the Arsenal of Democracy, which would supply munitions to the Allies, in March 1941, Roosevelt, with Congressional approval, provided Lend-Lease aid to Britain and China. He supervised the mobilization of the U. S. economy to support the war effort, as an active military leader, Roosevelt implemented a war strategy on two fronts that ended in the defeat of the Axis Powers and initiate the development of the worlds first atomic bomb. His work also influenced the creation of the United Nations. Roosevelts physical health declined during the war years, and he died 11 weeks into his fourth term. One of the oldest Dutch families in New York State, the Roosevelts distinguished themselves in other than politics. One ancestor, Isaac Roosevelt, had served with the New York militia during the American Revolution, Roosevelt attended events of the New York society Sons of the American Revolution, and joined the organization while he was president
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Saint-Gaudens double eagle
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The Saint-Gaudens double eagle is a twenty-dollar gold coin, or double eagle, produced by the United States Mint from 1907 to 1933. The coin is named after its designer, the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and it is considered by many to be the most beautiful of U. S. coins. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt sought to beautify American coinage, although the sculptor had poor experiences with the Mint and its chief engraver, Charles E. Barber, Saint-Gaudens accepted Roosevelts call. The work was subject to delays, due to Saint-Gaudenss declining health. Saint-Gaudens died in 1907, after designing the eagle and double eagle, after several versions of the design for the double eagle proved too difficult to strike, Barber modified Saint-Gaudenss design, lowering the relief so the coin could be struck with only one blow. When the coins were released, they proved controversial as they lacked the words In God We Trust. The coin was minted, primarily for use in international trade, the 1933 double eagle is among the most valuable of U. S. coins, with the sole example currently known to be in private hands selling in 2002 for $7,590,020. The resulting Liberty Head double eagle, designed by Mint Engraver James Longacre, was struck for the remainder of the 19th century, though the design was modified several times. In the West, where gold or silver coins were preferred to paper money—use of which was illegal in California in the aftermath of the Gold Rush—the coins saw some circulation. Sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudenss first association with the Mint was in 1891, the Mint had offered only a small prize to the winner, and all invited artists refused to submit entries. The competition was open to the public, and the committee found no entry suitable. Barber, who had been Chief Engraver since 1879, felt that Saint-Gaudens overstated the case, in 1892, Saint-Gaudens was asked to design the official medal of the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, it would be presented to prizewinning exhibitors. The exposition directors hastily withdrew the reverse design and replaced it with one created by Barber which, a furious Saint-Gaudens swore to have nothing more to do with the Mint or its employees, and for the next decade refused all commissions which might involve him with that bureau. Would it be possible, without asking permission of Congress, to employ a man like Saint-Gaudens to give us a coinage which would have some beauty. Roosevelt had Mint Director George E. Roberts write to Saint-Gaudens and it will I assure you give me great pleasure to assist in the procuring of good work. Roosevelt caused the Mint to engage Saint-Gaudens to redesign some of the coins which could be changed without the need for Congressional approval—the cent, no U. S. coin had ever been designed by anyone other than a Mint employee. In November 1905, Roosevelt wrote to Saint-Gaudens to enquire how the coinage was progressing. The President mentioned that he had been looking at gold coins of Ancient Greece, Roosevelt suggested that the new designs could be in high relief, with a high rim to protect them
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Indian Head eagle
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The Indian Head eagle was a ten-dollar gold piece, or eagle struck by the United States Mint continuously from 1907 until 1916, and then irregularly until 1933. The obverse and the reverse, designed by the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, were commissioned for use on other denominations. Saint-Gaudens was suffering from cancer, and did not survive to see the coins released, beginning in 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt proposed the introduction of new, more artistic designs on US coins, prompting the Mint to hire Saint-Gaudens to create them. For the reverse of the coin the President decided on a design featuring a standing bald eagle. Following the sculptors death on August 3,1907, Roosevelt insisted that the new eagle be finished, New pieces were given to the President on August 31, which differ from the coins struck later for circulation. The omission of the motto In God We Trust on the new coins caused public outrage, Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber added the words and made minor modifications to the design. The Indian Head eagle was struck regularly until 1916, and then intermittently until President Franklin Roosevelt directed the Mint to stop producing gold coins in 1933 and its termination ended the series of eagles struck for circulation begun in 1795. Many Indian Head eagles were melted by the government in the late 1930s, at Roosevelts direction, the Mint hired Saint-Gaudens to redesign the cent and the four gold pieces, the double eagle, eagle, half eagle, and quarter eagle. The Liberty Head design had been first struck for the eagle in 1838, the last addition to the Liberty Head gold series, the designs of those pieces had remained unchanged for more than 25 years, hence they could be changed without an act of Congress. In 1905, Mint Engraver Charles E. Barber engraved the obverse of Roosevelts inauguration medal, while his assistant, George T. Morgan, Roosevelt disliked the work, and engaged Saint-Gaudens to design an unofficial medal commemorating the inauguration. Saint-Gaudens foresaw resistance from Barber on the question of the new coinage, he wrote to his brother, Louis Saint-Gaudens, but I had a talk with the President who ordered Secretary Shaw in my presence to cut Barbers head off if he didnt do our bidding. Roosevelt was impressed by some models Saint-Gaudens had prepared for the cent showing a head of Liberty and it is distinctly American, and very picturesque. Couldnt you have just such a head as you have now, numismatic historian Walter Breen described this as the absurd addition of a feathered warbonnet, such as neither Ms. Liberty nor any Native American woman would ever have worn. Art historian Cornelius Vermeule stated that the Indian Head eagle missed being a great coin because Roosevelt interfered with the choice of headdress for Liberty, in February 1907, Saint-Gaudens added the headdress to the head of Liberty. The double eagle would show a Liberty striding forward, with an eagle on the reverse. The President was prepared to meet personally with Saint-Gaudens if the sculptor objected, but unknown to Roosevelt he was ill with cancer. Mint Director George E. Roberts wrote to Saint-Gaudens on May 25,1907, the design for the Eagle shall be the feather head of Liberty with the standing eagle. Saint-Gaudens and his assistants moved quickly on the revision, the double eagles were then being delayed because Saint-Gaudens had twice sent the Mint models with too high a relief, which could not be struck in one blow, as required for circulating coinage
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United States Secretary of the Treasury
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This position in the Federal Government of the United States is analogous to the Minister of Finance in many other countries. The Secretary of the Treasury is a member of the Presidents Cabinet, nominees for The Secretary of the Treasury undergo a confirmation hearing before the United States Senate Committee on Finance before being confirmed by the United States Senate. The Secretary of the Treasury is a member of the U. S. National Security Council. The Secretary along with the Treasurer must sign Federal Reserve notes before they can become legal tender, the Secretary also manages the United States Emergency Economic Stabilization fund. Most of the Departments law enforcement agencies such as the U. S. Customs Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, secret Service were reassigned to other Departments in 2003 in conjunction with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. The Secretary of the Treasury salary is $205,700 annually,2 Deputy Secretary of the Treasury M. Peter McPherson served as Acting Secretary of the Treasury from August 17,1988, to September 15,1988. 4 Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Kenneth W. Dam served as Acting Secretary of the Treasury from December 31,2002,5 Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Robert M. Kimmitt served as Acting Secretary of the Treasury from June 30,2006, to July 9,2006. 7 Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Neal Wolin served as Acting Secretary of the Treasury from January 25,2013, as of April 2017, there are eleven living former Secretaries of the Treasury, the oldest being George P. Shultz. The most recent Secretary of the Treasury to die was Lloyd M. Bentsen, United States Department of the Treasury
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L. M. Shaw
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Leslie Mortier Shaw, known as L. M. Shaw, was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician. He served as the 17th Governor of Iowa and was a Republican candidate in the 1908 presidential election, Shaw was born in Morristown, Vermont, the son of Boardman O. Shaw and Louise Spaulding Lovisa Shaw. He attended Cornell College in 1874, Shaw married the former Alice Crenshaw on December 6,1877, with whom he had three children. He became a lawyer and banker, and in 1898 became the 17th Governor of Iowa and he then became the U. S. Secretary of the Treasury under President Theodore Roosevelt from 1902 to 1907. Like his predecessor Secretary Lyman Gage, Shaw firmly believed that the Treasury should serve the market in times of difficulty through the introduction of Treasury funds. The intended effect of actions was to provide a more elastic currency which would then respond to the needs of the market. The government intervention in the market reached its height with Shaw. He resigned on March 3,1907, to become as the banker in New York City and he was a candidate for the Republican Party nomination during the U. S. presidential election in 1908. After leaving the Presidential Cabinet and his life, he returned to banking, working in New York City. Shaw died in Washington, D. C. and was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Denison, Secretary Shaw and Precedents as to Treasury Control over the Money Market. U. S. Department of the Treasury biography Men of Mark in America L. M. Shaw at Find a Grave
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United States Department of the Treasury
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The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue, the Department is administered by the Secretary of the Treasury, who is a member of the Cabinet. On February 13,2017, the Senate confirmed Steven Mnuchin as Secretary of the Treasury, the first Secretary of the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton, who was sworn into office on September 11,1789. Hamilton was asked by President George Washington to serve after first having asked Robert Morris, Hamilton almost single-handedly worked out the nations early financial system, and for several years was a major presence in Washingtons administration as well. His portrait is on the obverse of the U. S. ten-dollar bill while the Treasury Department building is shown on the reverse. Besides the Secretary, one of the best-known Treasury officials is the Treasurer of the United States whose signature, along with the Treasury Secretarys, the Treasury prints and mints all paper currency and coins in circulation through the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the United States Mint. The Department also collects all federal taxes through the Internal Revenue Service, the Congress had no power to levy and collect taxes, nor was there a tangible basis for securing funds from foreign investors or governments. The delegates resolved to issue paper money in the form of bills of credit, the Congress stipulated that each of the colonies contribute to the Continental governments funds. With the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4,1776, despite the infusion of foreign and domestic loans to pay for a war of independence, the United Colonies were unable to establish a well-organized agency for financial administration. Michael Hillegas was first called Treasurer of the United States on May 14,1777, the Treasury Office was reorganized three times between 1778 and 1781. The $241.5 million of paper Continental Dollars devalued rapidly, by May 1781, the dollar collapsed at a rate of from 500 to 1000 to 1 against hard currency. Protests against the worthless money swept the colonies and angry Americans coined the expression not worth a Continental, Robert Morris was designated Superintendent of Finance in 1781 and restored stability to the nations finances. Morris, a colonial merchant, was nicknamed the Financier because of his reputation for procuring funds or goods on a moments notice. His staff included a Comptroller, a Treasurer, a Register, and auditors, who managed the finances through 1784. The Treasury Board of three Commissioners continued to oversee the finances of the confederation of former colonies until September 1789, the First Congress of the United States was called to convene in New York on March 4,1789, marking the beginning of government under the Constitution. Alexander Hamilton took the oath of office as the first Secretary of the Treasury on September 11,1789, Hamilton had served as George Washingtons aide-de-camp during the Revolution, and was of great importance in the ratification of the Constitution. Because of his financial and managerial acumen, Hamilton was a choice for solving the problem of the new nations heavy war debt. Hamiltons first official act was to submit a report to Congress in which he laid the foundation for the financial health
26.
Act of Congress
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An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. It can either be a Public Law, relating to the public, or a Private Law. The term can be used in countries with a legislature named Congress. In the United States, Acts of Congress are designated as public laws, relating to the general public, or private laws. Since 1957, all Acts of Congress have been designated as Public Law X-Y or Private Law X-Y, for example, P. L. 111-5 was the fifth enacted public law of the 111th United States Congress. Public laws are often abbreviated as Pub. L. When the legislation of those two kinds is proposed, it is called public bill and private bill respectively, the word act, as used in the term Act of Congress, is a common, not a proper noun. The capitalization of the act is deprecated by some dictionaries. Some writers, in particular the U. S. Code and this is likely a result of the more liberal use of capital letters in legal contexts, which has its roots in the 18th century capitalization of all nouns as is seen in the United States Constitution. Act of Congress is sometimes used in speech to indicate something for which getting permission is burdensome. For example, It takes an Act of Congress to get a permit in this town. The President promulgates Acts of Congress made by the first two methods, if an Act is made by the third method, the presiding officer of the house that last reconsidered the act promulgates it. In addition, if the President rejects a bill or resolution while the Congress is in session, after the Archivist receives the Act, he or she provides for its publication as a slip law and in the United States Statutes at Large. Thereafter, the changes are published in the United States Code, an Act of Congress that violates the Constitution may be declared unconstitutional by the courts. The judicial declaration of an Acts unconstitutionality does not remove the law from the books, rather. However, future publications of the Act are generally annotated with warnings indicating that the statute is no longer valid law, legislation List of United States federal legislation for a list of prominent acts of Congress. Procedures of the United States Congress Act of Parliament Coming into force Enactment Federal Register http, //bensguide. gpo. gov/6-8/glossary. html
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George E. Roberts
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George Evan Roberts was Director of the United States Mint from 1898 to 1907, and again from 1910 to 1914. George E. Roberts was born in Colesburg, Iowa on August 19,1857 and he was raised in Dubuque County, Iowa, Manchester, Iowa, and Fort Dodge, Iowa. At age, Roberts began a career in the industry by working as a printers apprentice at the Fort Dodge Times. He was briefly city editor of the Sioux City Journal, in 1878, he purchased the Fort Dodge Messenger and served as its editor. Roberts was active in the Republican Party of Iowa and, in 1883, was elected State Printer of Iowa, in 1902, he and a partner purchased the Iowa State Register and the Des Moines Leader, which they merged to form the Des Moines Register and Leader. As a newspaper editor, Roberts was particularly interested in economic and he was an opponent of free silver. In 1894, he published a response to William Hope Harveys Coins Financial School and he followed this up with Money, Wages and Prices and Iowa and the Silver Question. Both of these works were important parts of the campaign that defeated William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 U. S. presidential election, in 1902, Roberts authored the Iowa Republican Partys platform on tariffs, which criticized protectionism and supported reciprocity. He then became president of the Commercial National Bank in Chicago, in 1910, President William Howard Taft appointed Roberts to a third term as Director of the U. S. Mint, with Roberts holding office from July 1910 to November 1914. Upon leaving government service in 1914, Roberts became assistant to the president of the National City Bank in New York City, in 1916 he was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. He became a president of the bank in 1919, a position he held until 1931, when he became one of the banks economic advisers. From 1914 to 1940, Roberts edited the banks Monthly Economic Letter, an investment bulletin dealing with events, economic affairs. In 1929, he headed a delegation of financiers to Panama to study that countrys finances and he was a member of the Gold Delegation of the Financial Committee of the League of Nations from 1930 to 1932. Roberts died at his home in Larchmont, New York on June 6,1948
28.
War bonnet
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Feathered war bonnets are traditionally worn by male leaders of the American Plains Indians Nations who have earned a place of great respect in their tribe. Originally they were sometimes worn into battle, but they are now used for ceremonial occasions. They are seen as items of great spiritual and political importance, only to be worn by those who have earned the right, Native American tribes consider the presentation of an eagle feather to be one of their highest marks of respect. Any honored person must have earned their feather through selfless acts of courage and honour, traditional deeds that brought honour would include acts of valor in battle, but also political and diplomatic gains or acts that helped their community survive and prosper. The esteem attached to eagle feathers was so high that in cases, such as a warrior. Historically, the warrior who was the first to touch an enemy in battle, when enough feathers were collected, they might be incorporated into a headdress or some other form of worn regalia. Headdresses were usually reserved exclusively for the tribes chosen political and spiritual leaders, roman Nose, who was one of the most influential Cheyenne warriors of the Plain Indian Wars of the 1860s, was known for his illustrious warbonnet that was said to protect him during battle. Several instances record how while wearing his war bonnet, he rode back and forth before soldiers of the United States Army and, while women have traditional regalia that can include other types of headdresses, historically women did not wear the Plains warbonnet. Consequently, in cases where non-Native political leaders have been allowed to wear the headdress. Plains-style bonnets are still almost always out of eagle feathers because the eagle is considered by most tribes of the Interior Plains to be the greatest and most powerful of all birds. Under current federal legislation, the Eagle feather law enables American Indians to continue using eagle feathers in their spiritual and cultural practices. The exemption is contained within the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, in the United States, only enrolled members of a federally recognized Native American tribe may legally collect or possess eagle feathers. One traditional method of acquiring feathers for bonnets is for young eagles to have their maturest tail feathers plucked while still in the nest and this can be done three times before the feathers do not grow back. As many as thirty six feathers can be collected in this manner, if care is taken in not disturbing the nest, this method can be repeated yearly. Plains Indians normally use eagle feathers as the most significant part of the bonnet to represent honor, some Plains-style bonnet forms are the horned bonnet, flaring eagle feather bonnet, and the fluttering feather bonnet. The horned bonnet can consist of a skull cap, shaved bison or cow horns. The flaring eagle feather bonnet is made of golden eagle tail feathers connected to a buckskin or felt crown. There are slits at the base of the crown that allow the bonnet to have a flaring look, an unusual form of bonnet that is no longer used would be the fluttering feather bonnet
29.
Bald eagle
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The bald eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States and it is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting. The bald eagle is a feeder which subsists mainly on fish. It builds the largest nest of any North American bird and the largest tree nests ever recorded for any species, up to 4 m deep,2.5 m wide. Sexual maturity is attained at the age of four to five years, Bald eagles are not actually bald, the name derives from an older meaning of the word, white headed. The adult is brown with a white head and tail. The sexes are identical in plumage, but females are about 25 percent larger than males, the beak is large and hooked. The plumage of the immature is brown, the bald eagle is both the national bird and national animal of the United States of America. The bald eagle appears on its seal, in the late 20th century it was on the brink of extirpation in the contiguous United States. Populations have since recovered and the species was removed from the U. S. governments list of endangered species on July 12,1995 and it was removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife in the Lower 48 States on June 28,2007. The plumage of an bald eagle is evenly dark brown with a white head. The tail is long and slightly wedge-shaped. Males and females are identical in coloration, but sexual dimorphism is evident in the species. The beak, feet and irises are bright yellow, the legs are feather-free, and the toes are short and powerful with large talons. The highly developed talon of the toe is used to pierce the vital areas of prey while it is held immobile by the front toes. The beak is large and hooked, with a yellow cere, the adult bald eagle is unmistakable in its native range. The closely related African fish eagle also has a body, white head and tail
30.
George B. Cortelyou
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George Bruce Cortelyou was an American Presidential Cabinet secretary of the early twentieth century, having been appointed to three such posts by President Theodore Roosevelt. Cortelyou was born in New York City to Rose and Peter Crolius Cortelyou and he was part of an old New Netherland family whose immigrant ancestor, Jacques Cortelyou, arrived in 1652. He was educated at schools in Brooklyn, the Nazareth Hall Military Academy in Pennsylvania. At 20, Cortelyou received a BA degree from Westfield Normal School, now Westfield State University and he graduated from the law schools of George Washington University and Georgetown University. He was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity while at George Washington University, courtelyou then began teaching, later taking a stenography course and mastering shorthand. Cortelyou married the former Lily Morris Hinds on September 15,1888, in 1891, he obtained a position as secretary to the chief postal inspector of New York. The following year a promotion led to a job as the secretary to the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General in Washington, in 1895 President Grover Cleveland hired Cortelyou as his chief clerk on the recommendation of Postmaster General Wilson S. Bissell. Cleveland recommended him as a secretary to his successor, William McKinley. Cortelyou was working on improvements in efficiency in 1901, when President McKinley was assassinated. McKinley was greeting visitors in the Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exposition on September 6,1901, in Buffalo, New York, as McKinley collapsed, he was caught and supported by his aides, among them Cortelyou. As he was held in their arms, he whispered, My wife, be careful, Cortelyou, how you tell her. After succeeding as President, Theodore Roosevelt tasked Cortelyou with transforming the White House into a professional organization. Cortelyou developed procedures and rules that guided White House protocol and established processes for which there had been only personal prerogative, Cortelyou is credited with instituting the first systematic gathering of press commentary for a sitting presidents perusal. The current clippings were the first attempt by a president to gauge public opinion by the media, Cortelyou selected items objectively, a practice that would not be consistently followed by his successors. Cortelyou served as the first Secretary of Commerce and Labor, from February 18,1903 to June 30,1904 and he also served as Postmaster General from March 6,1905 to January 14,1907 and was the Secretary of the Treasury, all under Theodore Roosevelt. From 1904 through 1907, Cortelyou also served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee and he was made an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity on April 9,1903. He had attended the New England Conservatory of Music, where the fraternity was founded, Cortelyou served as the Secretary of the Treasury, from March 4,1907 to March 7,1909. This was during the devastating Panic of 1907, like his predecessor, Leslie M. Shaw, Cortelyou believed it was Treasurys duty to protect the banking system, but he realized that the Treasury was not equipped to maintain economic stability
31.
E pluribus unum
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Never codified by law, E Pluribus Unum was considered a de facto motto of the United States until 1956 when the United States Congress passed an act, adopting In God We Trust as the official motto. The 13-letter motto was suggested in 1776 by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere to the responsible for developing the seal. This in turn can be traced back to the London-based Huguenot Peter Anthony Motteux, the phrase is similar to a Latin translation of a variation of Heraclituss 10th fragment, The one is made up of all things, and all things issue from the one. In the poem text, color est e pluribus unus describes the blending of colors into one, st Augustine used the non-truncated variant of the phrase, ex pluribus unum, in his Confessions. The first coins with E pluribus unum were dated 1786 and struck under the authorization of the State of New Jersey by Thomas Goadsby and Albion Cox in Rahway, New Jersey. The motto had no New Jersey linkage but was likely an available die that had created by Walter Mould the previous year for a failed federal coinage proposal. Walter Mould was also authorized by New Jersey to strike state coppers with this motto and did so beginning in early 1787 in Morristown, New Jersey. In March 1786, Seth Read petitioned the Massachusetts General Court, E pluribus unum, written in capital letters, is included on most U. S. currency, with some exceptions to the letter spacing. It is also embossed on the edge of the dollar coin, E pluribus unum is inscribed on the Great Seals scroll. The motto was added to silver coins in 1798. In 1834, it was dropped from most of the coins to mark the change in the standard fineness of the coins. In 1837, it was dropped from the coins, marking the era of the Revised Mint Code. An Act of February 12,1873 made the inscription a requirement of law upon the coins of the United States, after the Revolution, Rahway, New Jersey became the home of the first national mint to create a coin bearing the inscription E pluribus unum. In a quality control error in early 2007 the Philadelphia Mint issued some one-dollar coins without E pluribus unum on the rim, the 2009 and new 2010 penny features a new design on the back, which displays the phrase E Pluribus unum in larger letters than in previous years. The motto E pluribus unum is used by Portuguese multi-sport club Benfica and this motto has also been used by the Scoutspataljon, a professional infantry battalion of the Estonian Defence Forces, since 1918. A variant of the motto, unum e pluribus is used by the Borough of Wokingham in Berkshire, E Pluribus Unum is a march by the composer Fred Jewell, written in 1917 during World War I. In the film The Wizard of Oz, the wizard gives the Scarecrow a diploma from the society of E Pluribus Unum. In the Twilight Zone episode A Kind of a Stopwatch, a man receives a stopwatch that can stop time and is told, remember, a short story collection by Theodore Sturgeon is called E Pluribus Unicorn
32.
Nickel (United States coin)
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A nickel, in American usage, is a five-cent coin struck by the United States Mint. Composed of 75% copper and 25% nickel, the piece has been issued since 1866 and its diameter is.835 inches and its thickness is.077 inches. The silver half dime, equal to five cents, had issued since the 1790s. The American Civil War caused economic hardship, driving gold and silver from circulation, in response, in place of low-value coins, the government at first issued paper currency. In 1865, Congress abolished the five-cent fractional currency note after Spencer M. Clark, head of the Currency Bureau, the initial design of the Shield nickel was struck from 1866 until 1883, then was replaced by the Liberty Head nickel. The Buffalo nickel was introduced in 1913 as part of a drive to increase the beauty of American coinage, in 1938, in 2004 and 2005, special designs in honor of the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition were issued. In 2006, the Mint reverted to using Jefferson nickel designer Felix Schlags original reverse, although a new obverse, by Jamie Franki, was substituted. As of the end of FY2013, it cost more than nine cents to produce a nickel, the silver half disme was one of the denominations prescribed by the Mint Act of 1792, its weight and fineness were set by law. By legend, President Washington supplied silverware from his home, Mount Vernon, in 1793, the newly established Philadelphia Mint began striking cents and half cents. Coinage of precious metal was delayed, Congress required the assayer and chief coiner to each post a security bond of $10,000, a huge sum in 1793. In 1794, Congress lowered the chief coiners bond to $5,000, subsequently, silver coinage began that year. The half dime was struck to various designs by Mint Engraver Robert Scot from 1794 until 1805, though none were dated 1798,1799, in response, in 1804 the US stopped striking silver dollars, issuance of the half dime was discontinued from 1805 until 1829. Beginning in 1829, the silver five-cent piece was struck, beginning in 1837. In 1851, it ceased to be the smallest US silver coin as a three cent piece was issued by the Mint, although specie was hoarded or exported, the copper-nickel cent, then the only base metal denomination being struck, also vanished. In 1864, Congress began the process of restoring coins to circulation by abolishing the three-cent note and authorizing bronze cents and two-cent pieces, with low intrinsic values and these new coins initially proved popular, though the two-cent piece soon faded from circulation. On March 3,1865, Congress passed legislation authorizing the Mint to strike three-cent pieces of 75% copper, in 1864, Congress authorized a third series of fractional currency notes. Clark kept his job only because of the intervention of Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase. In his 1865 report, Pollock wrote, From this nickel alloy, a coin for the denomination of five cents, only until the resumption of specie payments
33.
Dime (United States coin)
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The dime, in U. S. usage, is a ten-cent coin, one tenth of a United States dollar, labeled formally as one dime. The denomination was first authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792, the dime is the smallest in diameter and is the thinnest of all U. S. coins currently minted for circulation, being.705 inches in diameter and.053 inches in thickness. The obverse of the coin depicts the profile of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the reverse boasts an olive branch, a torch, as of 2011, the dime coin cost 5.65 cents to produce. The word dime comes from the French word dîme, meaning tithe or tenth part, from the Latin decima. In the past prices have occasionally been quoted on signage and other materials in terms of dimes, abbreviated as d or a d with a slash through it as with the cent. The Coinage Act of 1792 established the dime, cent, and mill as subdivisions of the equal to 1⁄10. The first known proposal for a coinage system in the United States was made in 1783 by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton, the nations first Secretary of the Treasury, recommended the issuance of six such coins in 1791, among the six was a silver coin, which shall be, in weight and value, one tenth part of a silver unit or dollar. Thus dimes are made small and thin, with the passage of the Coinage Act of 1965, the dimes silver content was removed. Dimes from 1965 to the present are composed of layers of 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel. Starting in 1992, the U. S. Mint began issuing Silver Proof Sets annually and these sets are intended solely for collectors, and are not meant for general circulation. Since its introduction in 1796, the dime has been issued in six different major types, the name for each type indicates the design on the coins obverse. The composition of the disme was set at 89.24 percent silver and 10.76 percent copper, in 1792, a limited number of dismes were minted but never circulated. Some of these were struck in copper, indicating that the 1792 dismes were in fact pattern coins, the first dimes minted for circulation did not appear until 1796, due to a lack of demand for the coin and production problems at the United States Mint. The first dime to be circulated was the Draped Bust dime and it featured the same obverse and reverse as all other circulating coins of the time, the so-called Draped Bust/Small Eagle design. This design was the work of then-Chief Engraver Robert Scot, the portrait of Liberty on the obverse was based on a Gilbert Stuart drawing of prominent Philadelphia socialite Ann Willing Bingham, wife of noted American statesman William Bingham. The reverse design is of a bald eagle surrounded by palm and olive branches. Since the Coinage Act of 1792 required only that the cent and half cent display their denomination, all 1796 dimes have 15 stars on the obverse, representing the number of U. S. states then in the Union
34.
Henry Hering
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Henry Hering was an American sculptor who was born New York City on February 15,1874 and died there on January 17,1949. He was a student of Augustus Saint-Gaudens at Cooper Union and of Philip Martiny at the Art Students League of New York and he then went to Paris where he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts. Following his return from Paris Hering worked as an assistant to Augustus Saint-Gaudens until Saint-Gaudens death in 1907, in 1910 Hering married another long time Saint-Gaudens assistant, Elsie Ward, who gave up her independent career as a sculptor, to serve as her husbands assistant. Henry Hering is well known for his work as an architectural sculptor, Herings reputation as a sculptor decreased as International Modernism dispensed with architectural, figurative and allegorical work. As with many such artists Herings oeuvre is now being reexamined in a more positive light. In 1928 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, Hering is further remembered in relation to the unfortunate crash of an American B-25 military airplane into New York Citys Empire State Building on July 28,1945. The largest sections of the plane remained lodged in the building, however, one engine ripped from its wing and traveled some distance away, regrettably landing in Herings top floor penthouse studio, located in a building near the crash. At the time, newspaper coverage of the accident reported that, although the artist was not in his studio at the time, the National Sculpture Society gives out the Henry Hering Award for noteworthy collaboration between sculptor and architect. This male nude was the largest bronze statue to have been cast in America at that time, a lively interest in Herings work still exists, a version standing 33½ high was auctioned late in 2007 for $9,000
35.
Henry Cabot Lodge
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Henry Cabot Lodge was an American Republican Senator and historian from Massachusetts. Lodge received his PhD in history from Harvard, Lodge was a long-time friend and confidant of Theodore Roosevelt. Lodge had the role of the first Senate Majority Leader and he is best known for his positions on foreign policy, especially his battle with President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 over the Treaty of Versailles. Lodge demanded Congressional control of declarations of war, Wilson refused and blocked Lodges move to ratify the treaty with reservations, as a result, the United States never joined the League of Nations. Lodge was born in Beverly, Massachusetts and his father was John Ellerton Lodge. His mother was Anna Cabot, through whom he was a great-grandson of George Cabot and he was cousin to the American polymath Charles Peirce. In 1872, he graduated from Harvard College, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, the Porcellian Club, and the Hasty Pudding Club. In 1874, he graduated from Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the bar in 1875, after traveling through Europe, Lodge returned to Harvard, and in 1876, became one of the first recipients of a Ph. D. in history and government from Harvard. His dissertation dealt with the Germanic origins of Anglo-Saxon land law and his teacher and mentor during his graduate studies was Henry Adams, Lodge maintained a lifelong friendship with Adams. Lodge was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts, in 1881, he was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society. In 1880–1882, Lodge served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Lodge represented his home state in the United States House of Representatives from 1887 to 1893 and in the Senate from 1893 to 1924. Along with his close friend Theodore Roosevelt, Lodge was sympathetic to the concerns of the Mugwump faction of the Republican Party, nonetheless, both reluctantly supported James Blaine and protectionism in the 1884 election. Lodge was a supporter of the gold standard, vehemently opposing the Populists and the silverites. Lodge was easily reelected time and again but his greatest challenge came in his bid in January 1911. The Democrats had made significant gains in Massachusetts and the Republicans were split between the progressive and conservative wings, with Lodge trying to both sides. In a major speech before the legislature voted, Lodge took pride in his long service to the state. He emphasized that he had never engaged in corruption or self-dealing, most of all he appealed to party loyalty. Lodge was reelected by five votes, Lodge was very close to Theodore Roosevelt for both of their entire careers
36.
Bela Pratt
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Bela Lyon Pratt was an American sculptor. Pratt was born in Norwich, Connecticut to Sarah and George Pratt and his maternal grandfather, Oramel Whittlesey, was a pianoforte maker and founder in 1835 of the first music school in the country authorized to confer degrees to teach music, Music Vale Seminary. At 16, Pratt began studying at the Yale University School of Fine Arts, after a short stint in Saint-Gaudens private studio, Pratt traveled to Paris, where he trained with sculptors Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu and Alexandre Falguière at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1892, he returned to the United States to create two large sculptural groups representing The Genius of Navigation for the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago and he also produced sculptures for the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo in 1901. In 1893, he began a 25-year career as a teacher of modeling in the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. One of Pratts most famous students at the School was John A. Wilson and he became an associate of the National Academy in 1900. When Saint-Gaudens uncompleted group for the entrance to the Boston Public Library was rejected, Pratt was awarded a commission for personifications of Art, Pratt continued Saint-Gaudens influence in coin design after 1907. His gold Indian Head half and quarter eagle gold U. S. coins are known as the Pratt coins and feature an unusual intaglio Indian head, a retrospective exhibition of 125 of his sculptures was held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in the spring of 1918. Henry Augustus Coit - St. Pauls School, Concord, New Hampshire 1906 Young Soldier - St. belalyonpratt. com A comprehensive website of all of Bela Lyon Pratts works Downes, the Work of Bela L. Pratt, Sculptor. Coburn, Frederick W. Americanism in Sculpture, as Represented in the Works of Bela Lyon Pratt. Palette and Bench 2, nos.5 and 6, 95-97, Bela L. Pratt, An Eminent New England Sculptor. The History of American Sculpture, New York,1924, 491-496
37.
In God We Trust
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In God We Trust is the official motto of the United States. In God We Trust first appeared on U. S. coins in 1864 and has appeared on paper currency since 1957. A law passed in a Joint Resolution by the 84th Congress and this phrase was first used on paper money in 1957, when it appeared on the one-dollar silver certificate. The first paper currency bearing the phrase entered circulation on October 1,1957, the 84th Congress later passed legislation, also signed by President Eisenhower on July 30,1956, declaring the phrase to be the national motto. It is also the motto of the U. S. state of Florida and its Spanish equivalent, En Dios Confiamos, is the motto of the Republic of Nicaragua. The phrase appears to have originated in The Star-Spangled Banner, written by Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812, the fourth stanza includes the phrase, And this be our motto, In God is our Trust. This version of the made a early appearance on the twenty dollar interest bearing notes issued in 1864 along with the motto God. At least part of the motivation was to declare that God was on the Union side of the Civil War, chase chose his favorite designs and presented a proposal to Congress for the new designs in late 1863. This meant that the mint could make no changes without the enactment of legislation by the Congress. Such legislation was introduced and passed on April 22,1864, an Act of Congress passed on March 3,1865, allowed the Mint Director, with the Secretarys approval, to place the motto on all gold and silver coins that shall admit the inscription thereon. In 1873, Congress passed the Coinage Act, granting that the Secretary of the Treasury may cause the motto IN GOD WE TRUST to be inscribed on coins as shall admit of such motto. The use of In God We Trust has been interrupted, the motto disappeared from the five-cent coin in 1883, and did not reappear until production of the Jefferson nickel began in 1938. However, at least two other coins minted in every year in the interim still bore the motto, including the Morgan dollar, in 1908, Congress made it mandatory that the phrase be printed on all coins upon which it had previously appeared. This decision was motivated after an outcry following the release of a $20 coin which did not bear the motto. The motto has been in use on the one-cent coin since 1909. It also has appeared on all coins and silver dollar coins, half-dollar coins. Since 1938, all US coins have borne the motto, during the Cold War era, the government of the United States sought to distinguish itself from the Soviet Union, which promoted state atheism and thus implemented antireligious legislation. The 84th Congress passed a joint resolution declaring IN GOD WE TRUST the national motto of the United States, the law was signed by President Eisenhower on July 30,1956
38.
Connecticut
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Connecticut is the southernmost state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Connecticut is also often grouped along with New York and New Jersey as the Tri-State Area and it is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capital city is Hartford, and its most populous city is Bridgeport, the state is named for the Connecticut River, a major U. S. river that approximately bisects the state. The word Connecticut is derived from various anglicized spellings of an Algonquian word for long tidal river, Connecticut is the third smallest state by area, the 29th most populous, and the fourth most densely populated of the 50 United States. It is known as the Constitution State, the Nutmeg State, the Provisions State, and it was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States. Connecticuts center of population is in Cheshire, New Haven County, Connecticuts first European settlers were Dutch. They established a small, short-lived settlement in present-day Hartford at the confluence of the Park, initially, half of Connecticut was a part of the Dutch colony New Netherland, which included much of the land between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers. The first major settlements were established in the 1630s by England, the Connecticut and New Haven Colonies established documents of Fundamental Orders, considered the first constitutions in North America. In 1662, the three colonies were merged under a charter, making Connecticut a crown colony. This colony was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, the Connecticut River, Thames River, and ports along the Long Island Sound have given Connecticut a strong maritime tradition which continues today. The state also has a history of hosting the financial services industry, including insurance companies in Hartford. As of the 2010 Census, Connecticut features the highest per-capita income, Human Development Index, and median household income in the United States. Landmarks and Cities of Connecticut Connecticut is bordered on the south by Long Island Sound, on the west by New York, on the north by Massachusetts, and on the east by Rhode Island. The state capital and third largest city is Hartford, and other cities and towns include Bridgeport, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury, Norwalk, Danbury, New Britain, Greenwich. Connecticut is slightly larger than the country of Montenegro, there are 169 incorporated towns in Connecticut. The highest peak in Connecticut is Bear Mountain in Salisbury in the northwest corner of the state, the highest point is just east of where Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York meet, on the southern slope of Mount Frissell, whose peak lies nearby in Massachusetts. At the opposite extreme, many of the towns have areas that are less than 20 feet above sea level. Connecticut has a maritime history and a reputation based on that history—yet the state has no direct oceanfront
39.
Ocean Grove, New Jersey
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Ocean Grove is an unincorporated community and census-designated place located within Neptune Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. It had a population of 3,342 at the 2010 United States Census and it is located on the Atlantic Oceans Jersey Shore, between Asbury Park to the north and Bradley Beach to the south. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Ocean Grove is noted for its abundant examples of Victorian architecture, Ocean Grove was founded in 1869 as an outgrowth of the camp meeting movement in the United States, when a group of Methodist clergymen, led by William B. Osborn and Ellwood H. Stokes, formed the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association to develop, by the early 20th century, the popular Christian meeting ground became known as the Queen of Religious Resorts. The communitys land is owned by the camp meeting association and leased to individual homeowners. Ocean Grove remains the longest-active camp meeting site in the United States, on July 31,1869, Reverend W. B. About twenty tents were pitched that summer, by the following year paths were being graded, lots were sold, and plans were set in motion for a new town. In the summer of 1870, near the site of the first tabernacle and it was named the Beersheba well, for an ancient well in Palestine mentioned in the Bible, and is still in existence. Drawing from the population centers of New York City and Philadelphia. Tents and a wooden shelter, or tabernacle, were erected in the 1870s, for the trainloads of visitors arriving by the New York. In 1877 alone,710,000 railroad tickets were sold for the Ocean Grove-Asbury Park train station, a second, larger tabernacle was built in the 1880s, and permanent structures began to be constructed. Streets were paved and some were given Biblical names, such as Pilgrim Pathway, as Ocean Grove drew more and more visitors, the second tabernacle was also outgrown, and construction of the present Great Auditorium was completed in 1894. Originally designed to accommodate crowds of as many as 10,000 people and it remains Ocean Groves most prominent structure and the centerpiece of its summer programs. By the early 20th century, said The New York Times in 1986, visitors would travel miles to bask in the Victorian seaside splendor and to attend engaging, extroverted religious ceremonies. Millions of people, tourists and pilgrims both, made the trip to Ocean Grove every summer, the social disillusionment around 1920 following World War I had a profound effect on Ocean Grove and church going in general. There was a decline in interest in camp meeting type activities, one result was that Ocean Grove became a time capsule of late Victorian and early 20th century architecture. This had a significant effect on the development of a close-knit community, people looking to get away for the weekend typically avoided the Grove. That meant the visitors were likely to be coming for a visit or more
40.
Mint mark
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A mint mark is a letter, symbol or an inscription on a coin indicating the mint where the coin was produced. Mint marks were first developed to locate a problem, if a coin was underweight, or overweight, the mint mark would immediately tell where the coin was minted, and the problem could be located and fixed. Another problem which could occur would be a dishonest mint official debasing the coin, the first mint marks, called Magistrate Marks were developed by the Greeks, and named the Magistrate in charge of producing that coin. Debasing a coin, or otherwise tampering with it, was a serious crime. For example, in 1649, the directors of the Spanish colonial American Mint at Potosi, the initials of the assayer as well as the mint mark were immediate identifiers when the coins were inspected. In some cases the symbols found in the field of ancient Greek coins indicated mints, dAs Alexander the Great conquered territories their mints struck coins with the types he used in Macedon but marked with a local symbol. These mint marks were placed at the bottom of the reverse of the coin, the first part indicates that this was a coin with either SM for Sacra Moneta, M for Moneta, or P for Pecurnia. The second part was an abbreviation of the name of the mint such as ROM for Rome or LON for London, the final part indicated the workshop within the mint. Mint marks continued on copper coinage until the half of the seventh century. Mint names began to appear on French coins under Pepin and became mandatory under Charlemagne, in 1389, Charles IV adopted a system called Secret Points. This scheme placed a dot under the first letter of the legend on coins of Crémieu, under the letter for Romans. In the fifteenth century letters or symbols placed at the end of the legend indicating the mint were used in addition to Secret Points. In 1540, Francis I discontinued Secret Points in favor of a system of letters, A for Paris, B for Rouen, …, Z for Lyon, in the field. He also made it the rule for mint-masters to place their personal marks on coins and this was one of the few royal practices continued by the Republic of France. The mint letters continued until 1898 and the marks, supplemented by the mark of the Chief Engraver, are still used. Some Medieval English coins used mint names, when William III retired hammered coinage, branch mints which helped strike machine made coins to replace it put their initials below his bust. The Royal Mint established branches to coin sovereigns near the sources of gold and these issues show the initials of Sydney, Melbourne, Victoria, and Perth Australia as well as Canada, South Africa, and India. The privately owned Soho Mint obtained a contract to strike royal copper coins with steam presses and put its name on these coins and on coins it minted for other countries
41.
James B. Longacre
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James Barton Longacre was an American portraitist and engraver, and from 1844 until his death the fourth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint. Longacre is best known for designing the Indian Head cent, which entered commerce in 1859, Longacre was born in Delaware County, Pennsylvania in 1794. He ran away to Philadelphia at age 12, becoming an apprentice in a bookstore and his artistic talent developed and he was released to apprentice in an engraving firm. He struck out on his own in 1819, making a name providing illustrations for popular biographical books and he portrayed the leading men of his day, support from some of them, such as South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun, led to his appointment as chief engraver after the death of Christian Gobrecht in 1844, in Longacres first years as a chief engraver, the Philadelphia Mint was dominated by Mint Director Robert M. Patterson and Chief Coiner Franklin Peale. Conflict between Longacre and the two men developed after Congress ordered a new gold dollar and double eagle, with both to be designed by Longacre. Peale and Patterson nearly had Longacre fired, but the engraver was able to convince Treasury Secretary William M. Meredith that he should be retained. Both Patterson and Peale left the Mint in the early 1850s, in 1856, Longacre designed the Flying Eagle cent. When that design proved difficult to strike, Longacre was responsible for the replacement, other coins designed by Longacre include the silver and nickel three-cent pieces, the Shield nickel, and the two-cent piece. In 1866–1867, he redesigned the coins of Chile, Longacre died suddenly on New Years Day 1869, he was succeeded by William Barber. Longacres coins are generally well-regarded today, although they have criticized for lack of artistic advancement. James Barton Longacre was born on a farm in Delaware County and his mother Sarah Longacre died early in his life, his father, Peter Longacre, was the descendent of early Swedish settlers of North America. When Peter Longacre remarried, his son found the home life intolerable and he apprenticed himself at a bookstore, the owner, John E. Watson, took the boy into his family. Over the following years, Longacre worked in the bookstore, Watson granted Longacre a release from his apprenticeship in 1813 so that he could follow an artistic muse, but the two remained close, and Watson would often sell Longacres works. Longacre became apprenticed to George Murray, principal in the engraving firm Murray, Draper and this business derived from the firm established by the Philadelphia Mints first chief engraver, Robert Scot. Also employed at the Murray firm from 1816 was the man who would be Longacres predecessor as chief engraver, Longacres first important commission were plates for S. F. Bradfords Encyclopedia in 1820, an engraving of General Andrew Jackson by Longacre based on a portrait by Thomas Sully achieved wide sales. Longacre then agreed to engrave illustrations for Joseph and John Sandersons Biographies of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, although the venture was marked by criticism of the writing, sales were good enough that the project was completed
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Indian Head cent
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The Indian Head cent, also known as an Indian Head penny, was a one-cent coin produced by the United States Bureau of the Mint from 1859 to 1909. It was designed by James Barton Longacre, the Chief Engraver at the Philadelphia Mint, from 1793 to 1857, the cent was a copper coin about the size of a half dollar. As rising copper prices made it impractical to keep striking them, in 1857 the Mint reduced the size of the cent, issuing a new design, the new pieces were identical in diameter to modern cents, though somewhat thicker and made of copper-nickel. The design caused difficulties, and the Mint soon looked to replace the coin. Mint Director James Ross Snowden selected the Indian Head design, Cents were hoarded during the economic chaos of the American Civil War, when the metal nickel was in short supply. As Mint officials saw that privately issued bronze tokens were circulating, they induced Congress to pass the Coinage Act of 1864, in the postwar period, the cent became very popular and was struck in large numbers in most years. An exception was 1877, when an economy and little demand for cents created one of the rarest dates in the series. With the advent of coin-operated machines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, even more cents were produced, in 1909, the Indian Head cent was replaced by the Lincoln cent, designed by Victor D. Brenner. The half-dollar-sized large cent was struck from 1793 to 1857, authorized by the Mint Act of 1792 which defined the cent as 1/100 dollar. That coin was intended to close to a cents worth of copper. Nevertheless, because of the constitutional clause making only gold and silver legal tender, the result was the Flying Eagle cent, the same diameter as the later Lincoln cent but somewhat thicker and heavier, composed of 88% copper and 12% nickel. The Flying Eagle cent was struck in limited numbers as a coin in 1856. The Flying Eagle cent was issued in exchange for worn Spanish colonial silver coins and these small cents were also issued in exchange for the copper coins they had replaced. By 1858, Mint authorities found the piece unsatisfactory in production, the high points on both sides of the coin opposed each other, and it was difficult to get the design to be brought out fully in the tough copper-nickel alloy. Longacre, designer of the Flying Eagle cent, was instructed to develop alternative designs and he produced one, showing a slimmer eagle, which would not clash as much with the reverse wreath. Although this would have cured the problem, the design was not liked. Mint Director James Ross Snowden suggested a head of Columbus as an obverse design, in 1858, the Mint tested new designs for the cent. Snowden would make his choice of design would be struck in 1859 from these patterns
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James Earle Fraser (sculptor)
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James Earle Fraser was an American sculptor during the first half of the 20th century. His work is integral to many of Washington, D. C. s most iconic structures, Fraser was born in Winona, Minnesota. His father, Thomas Fraser, was an engineer who worked for companies as they expanded across the American West. As a child, James Fraser was exposed to life and the experience of Native Americans. Fraser began carving figures from pieces of limestone scavenged from a quarry close to his home near Mitchell. He attended classes at the The School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 1890 and studied at the École des Beaux Arts, early in his career, Fraser served as an assistant to Richard Bock and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, he formed his own studio in 1902. He also taught at the Art Students League in New York City beginning in 1906, among his earliest works were sculptural pieces at the Worlds Columbian Exposition of 1893 and, for the San Francisco Exposition of 1915, one of his most famous pieces, End of the Trail. While it was meant to be cast in bronze, material shortages due to World War I prevented this, after the Exposition, the original plaster statue was moved to Mooneys Grove Park in Visalia, CA. Exposed to the elements, it deteriorated until it was obtained by the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in 1968. The restored statue is currently on display in the entryway of the Oklahoma City museum, the original bronze replica statue of the End of the Trail Statue is located in Shaler Park, in Waupun, Wisconsin. The statue was purchased by inventor and sculptor, Clarence Addison Shaler and his commissions also include coins and medals, such as the World War I Victory Medal, the Navy Cross, and the Indian Head nickel. This coin was discontinued after 1938, but has since been reprised in 2001 on a US commemorative coin, Fraser’s major works include two heroic bronze equestrian statues titled The Arts of Peace, designed for the entrance to the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, behind the Lincoln Memorial. The pair was a companion to sculptor Leo Friedlanders The Arts of War, the groups had been designed in the 1930s but were not cast until the 1950s, because of a shortage of metals during World War II. Fraser was a member of the National Academy of Design, the National Sculpture Society, and his numerous awards and honors include election to the National Institute of Arts and Letters and gold medal from the Architectural League in 1925. Commission of Fine Arts in Washington, D. C. from 1920 to 1925, muralist Barry Faulkner, a friend of Fraser’s from their days in Paris together described Fraser like this, His character was like a good piece of Scotch tweed, handsome, durable and warm. James Earle Fraser died on October 11,1953, at Westport, Connecticut, los Angeles CA1991 Craven, Wayne, Sculpture in America, Thomas Y. Crowell Co, NY, NY1968 Freundlich, A. L. The Sculpture of James Earle Fraser, Universal Publishers / uPublish. com USA2001 Goode, the Outdoor Sculpture of Washington D. C. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D. C.1974 Gurney, George, Sculpture, walker, Famous Sculptors of America, Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc. com
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Buffalo nickel
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The Buffalo nickel or Indian Head nickel is a copper-nickel five-cent piece that was struck by the United States Mint from 1913 to 1938. It was designed by sculptor James Earle Fraser, as part of a drive to beautify the coinage, five denominations of US coins had received new designs between 1907 and 1909. In 1911, Taft administration officials decided to replace Charles E. Barbers Liberty Head design for the nickel and they were impressed by Frasers designs showing a Native American and an American bison. The designs were approved in 1912, but were delayed several months because of objections from the Hobbs Manufacturing Company, which made mechanisms to detect slugs in nickel-operated machines. The company was not satisfied by changes made in the coin by Fraser, despite attempts by the Mint to adjust the design, the coins proved to strike indistinctly, and to be subject to wear—the dates were easily worn away in circulation. Frasers design is admired today, and has used on commemorative coins. In 1883, the Liberty Head nickel was issued, featuring designs by Mint Engraver Charles E. Barber. An Act of Congress, passed into law on September 26,1890 required that coinage designs not be changed until they had been in use 25 years, unless Congress authorized the change. The act made the current five-cent piece and silver dollar exceptions to the twenty-five year rule, however, the Mint continued to strike the Liberty Head nickel in large numbers through the first decade of the 20th century. President Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 expressed his dissatisfaction with the state of the American coinage. Constrained by the 1890 act, the Mint only hired Saint-Gaudens to redesign the cent, by that time, the Liberty Head nickel had been in circulation for more than 25 years, and was eligible for redesign regardless of the special provision. In 1909, Mint Director Frank Leach instructed Barber to make pattern coins for new nickels, most of these coins featured the first president, George Washington. The press found out about the pieces, and speculated they would be released into circulation by the end of the year, the Mint received orders from banks in anticipation of the Washington nickel. However, the project was discontinued when Leach left office on November 1,1909, Andrew was dissatisfied with the just-issued Lincoln cent, and considered seeking congressional authorization to replace the cent with a design by sculptor James Earle Fraser. While the change in the cent did not occur, according to numismatic historian Roger Burdette, I should think also it might be the coin of which the greatest numbers are in circulation. Soon after the MacVeagh letter, Andrew announced that the Mint would be soliciting new designs for the nickel, Fraser, who had been an assistant to Saint-Gaudens, approached the Mint, and rapidly produced concepts and designs. Andrew and Roberts recommended Fraser to MacVeagh, and in July 1911, official approval was slow in coming, it was not until January 1912 that MacVeagh asked Roberts to inform Fraser that he had been commissioned. MacVeagh wrote, Tell him that of the three sketches which he submitted we would like to use the sketch of the head of the Indian, Fraser completed the models by June 1912, and prepared coin-size electrotypes
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Sacagawea dollar
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These coins have a copper core clad by manganese brass, giving them a distinctive golden color. The coin features an obverse by Glenna Goodacre, from 2000 to 2008, the reverse featured an eagle design by Thomas D. Rogers. Since 2009, the reverse of the Sacagawea dollar has been changed yearly, the coin was first suggested as a replacement for the Susan B. Anthony dollar, which proved useful for vending machine operators and mass transit systems despite being unpopular with the public, the Statue of Liberty was originally proposed as the design subject, but Sacagawea, the Shoshone guide of the Lewis and Clark expedition, was eventually chosen. The new dollar coin was heavily marketed by the Mint in a series of print, radio, however, the Sacagawea dollar did not prove popular with the public, and mintage dropped sharply in the second year of production. Production of Sacagawea dollars continued, since 2007 in parallel with the U. S, in 2012, mintage numbers were reduced by over 90%, in line with a similar reduction for the Presidential Dollars, due to large stockpiles of unused dollar coins. Soon after initial production of the dollar, it was noticed that a few of the coins were erroneously struck with the obverse of a state quarter. Due to the 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 dollar coin to be minted. These new dollars also proved unpopular, due in part to their similarity in size. Since there was little interest in the coin as a medium, most were placed in United States Mint and Federal Reserve vaults throughout the country. Despite their initial lack of popularity, by the late 1990s the Treasurys supply of small dollar coins began to due to their widespread use in vending machines. 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. On October 21, Minnesota Republican Rod Grams introduced a bill in the Senate, the final legislation authorizing the design and production of a new dollar coin was based on Grams bill. During this hearing, Philip N. Diehl, then Director of the Mint, 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, the act also gave authority to the Secretary of the Treasury to resume production of the Susan B. Anthony dollar until production could begin on the new dollar coin, in total, more than 41 million Susan B. Anthony dollars were struck bearing the date 1999, though the United States $1 Coin Act of 1997 required a change in composition and edge, it did not dictate what was to appear on the coin
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Realism (arts)
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Realism in the arts is the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions, implausible, exotic and supernatural elements. Realism has been prevalent in the arts at many periods, and is in part a matter of technique and training. In the visual arts, illusionistic realism is the depiction of lifeforms, perspective. Realist works of art may emphasize the mundane, ugly or sordid, such as works of realism, regionalism. There have been various movements in the arts, such as the opera style of verismo, literary realism, theatrical realism. The realism art movement in painting began in France in the 1850s, the realist painters rejected Romanticism, which had come to dominate French literature and art, with roots in the late 18th century. Realism is the precise, detailed and accurate representation in art of the appearance of scenes. Realism in this sense is also called naturalism, mimesis or illusionism, realistic art was created in many periods, and it is in large part a matter of technique and training, and the avoidance of stylization. It becomes especially marked in European painting in the Early Netherlandish painting of Jan van Eyck, however such realism is often used to depict, for example, angels with wings, which were not things the artists had ever seen in real life. It is the choice and treatment of matter that defines Realism as a movement in painting. The development of increasingly accurate representation of the appearances of things has a long history in art. It includes elements such as the depiction of the anatomy of humans and animals, of perspective and effects of distance. Ancient Greek art is recognised as having made great progress in the representation of anatomy. Pliny the Elders famous story of birds pecking at grapes painted by Zeuxis in the 5th century BC may well be a legend, roman portraiture, when not under too much Greek influence, shows a greater commitment to a truthful depiction of its subjects. The art of Late Antiquity famously rejected illusionism for expressive force, scientific methods of representing perspective were developed in Italy and gradually spread across Europe, and accuracy in anatomy rediscovered under the influence of classical art. As in classical times, idealism remained the norm, intriguingly, having led the development of illusionic painting, still life was to be equally significant in its abandonment in Cubism. The depiction of ordinary, everyday subjects in art also has a history, though it was often squeezed into the edges of compositions. However these objects are at least largely there because they carry layers of complex significance, pieter Bruegel the Elder pioneered large panoramic scenes of peasant life
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Fourth Dynasty of Egypt
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The Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt is characterized as a golden age of the Old Kingdom. Dynasty IV lasted from c. 2613 to 2494 BC and it was a time of peace and prosperity as well as one during which trade with other countries is documented. Dynasties III, IV, V and VI are often combined under the title the Old Kingdom. The capital at time was Memphis. The Fourth Dynasty heralded the height of the pyramid-building age, the relative peace of the Third Dynasty allowed the Dynasty IV rulers the leisure to explore more artistic and cultural pursuits. Sneferu’s building experiments led to the evolution from the mastaba styled step pyramids to the smooth sided “true” pyramids, no other period in Egypt’s history equaled Dynasty IV’s architectural accomplishments. Each of the rulers of this dynasty commissioned at least one pyramid to serve as a tomb or cenotaph, the pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty ruled for approximately 120 years, from c. 2613 to 2494 BC. The names in the table are taken from Dodson and Hilton and he also constructed a number of smaller step pyramids, making him the most prolific pyramid builder of the era. It is said that Sneferu had more stone and brick moved than any other pharaoh, sneferus chief wife was Hetepheres I, his half-sister and the mother of his son Khufu. His other two wives bore him more children, a well-liked ruler, Sneferu bolstered the power of the ruling family line by giving official titles and positions to relatives. He maintained control over the nobility by keeping a tight rein on lands and he conducted military excursions into Sinai, Nubia, Libya, and began trade arrangements with Lebanon for the acquisition of cedar. Surviving from this era are the records of Egyptian contact with her neighbors. They are recorded on the Palermo stone, information carved on the stone pre-dates and antedates this dynasty. Objects dating to the reign of Khafre have been found farther away, at Ebla. Khufu is the ruler who is known in Greek as Χέοψ = Cheops and his son is Khafre and his grandson is Menkaure. All of these rulers achieved lasting fame in the construction of their pyramids at Giza. In fact, recent excavations outside the Wall of the Crow by Dr. Mark Lehner have uncovered a city which seems to have housed, fed. Some records indicate that each household was responsible for providing a worker for civic projects, civic duties were not necessarily building projects, there were duties for the temples, libraries, and festivals as well, and both men and women filled some of the positions
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John James Audubon
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John James Audubon was an American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He was notable for his extensive studies documenting all types of American birds and his major work, a color-plate book entitled The Birds of America, is considered one of the finest ornithological works ever completed. Audubon was born in Les Cayes in the French colony of Saint-Domingue on his fathers sugarcane plantation and he was the son of Lieutenant Jean Audubon, a French naval officer from the south of Brittany, and his mistress Jeanne Rabine, a 27-year-old chambermaid from Les Touches, Brittany. They named the boy Jean Rabin and his mother died when the boy was a few months old, as she had suffered from tropical disease since arriving on the island. His father already had an number of mixed-race children, some by his mulatto housekeeper. Following Jeanne Rabins death, Jean Audubon renewed his relationship with Sanitte Bouffard and had a daughter by her, Bouffard also took care of the infant boy Jean. The senior Audubon had commanded ships, during the American Revolution, he had been imprisoned by Britain. After his release, he helped the American cause and he had long worked to save money and secure his familys future with real estate. In 1791 he arranged for his natural children Jean and Muguet, the children were raised in Couëron, near Nantes, France, by Audubon and his French wife Anne Moynet Audubon, whom he had married years before his time in Saint-Domingue. In 1794 they formally adopted both his children to regularize their legal status in France. They renamed the boy Jean-Jacques Fougère Audubon and the girl Rose, when Audubon, at age 18, boarded ship in 1803 to immigrate to the United States, he changed his name to an anglicized form, John James Audubon. From his earliest days, Audubon had an affinity for birds, I felt an intimacy with them. bordering on frenzy must accompany my steps through life. His father encouraged his interest in nature, He would point out the elegant movement of the birds, and he called my attention to their show of pleasure or sense of danger, their perfect forms and splendid attire. He would speak of their departure and return with the seasons, in France during the chaotic years of the French Revolution and its aftermath, the younger Audubon grew up to be a handsome and gregarious man. He played flute and violin, and learned to ride, fence, a great walker, he loved roaming in the woods, often returning with natural curiosities, including birds eggs and nests, of which he made crude drawings. His father planned to make a seaman of his son, at twelve, Audubon went to military school and became a cabin boy. He quickly found out that he was susceptible to seasickness and not fond of mathematics or navigation, after failing the officers qualification test, Audubon ended his incipient naval career. He was cheerfully back on solid ground and exploring the fields again, in 1803, his father obtained a false passport so that Audubon could go to the United States to avoid conscription in the Napoleonic Wars
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