The United States is honoring our Nation’s Presidents by issuing $1 circulating coins featuring their images in the order that they served, beginning with Presidents Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison in 2007. The United States Mint will mint and issue four Presidential $1 coins per year, and each will have a reverse design featuring a striking rendition of the Statue of Liberty.

The Presidential $1 Coin Act (Public Law 109-145) seeks to revitalize the design of United States coins and return circulating coinage to its position as an object of aesthetic beauty in its own right. Accordingly, the new Presidential $1 coins will feature larger, more dramatic artwork, as well as edge-incused inscriptions of the year of minting or issuance, "E Pluribus Unum," "In God We Trust" and the mint mark.

Other Components of the Act

In addition to its recognition of the Presidents on $1 coins, the United States is honoring the First Spouses through the issuance of uncirculated and proof one-half ounce 24-karat gold $10 coins emblematic of the spouse of each President during that President’s term of service. The United States Mint will issue these coins under the same yearly release schedule as their corresponding Presidential $1 coins. These 24-karat gold coins generally will have an obverse image of the First Spouse and a reverse image symbolic of that particular First Spouse’s life and work. The United States Mint will also strike bronze medals that bear the likenesses of these coins. The law calls for alternative designs to ensure program continuity through periods in which the President served without a spouse. The Act also calls for the production and release of 24-karat American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins as well as a redesign of the one-cent coin in 2009 to commemorate the bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth.

Other Components of the Act

The designs for the first four Presidential $1 Coins will be unveiled in October/November 2006, and current plans are to make the President Washington $1 Coin available to the public around President’s Day, 2007. The inauguration of the Presidential $1 Coin is critical to the public awareness of this program and the United States Mint and the Federal Reserve have developed strategic and tactical plans to mitigate barriers to the circulation of the $1 coin in commerce as well as to create wide-spread awareness of the program.

For example, the United States Mint will pre-position $1 coins at Federal Reserve locations and financial institutions across the country in advance of the release date to allow commercial banks the opportunity to have coin available for customers on the release date. The United States Mint will also wrap unmixed newly issued $1 coins prior to shipping to ensure that they are distributed to financial institutions as quickly as possible in a form suitable for commerce.

Following the ratification of the Constitution of the United States, the Electoral College unanimously elected George Washington to serve as the United States’ first President. The former General and Commander in Chief of the Continental Army served two terms as president, holding the office from 1789 to 1797.

President Washington himself laid the cornerstone for the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on September 18, 1793. Washington also laid the groundwork for the United States’ earliest foreign policy stance when he issued his Declaration of Neutrality in 1793, a direct response to the emerging conflict between England and France.

Front:
George Washington
Designer/sculptor: Joseph Menna, U.S. Mint
What you'll findNew portrait of Washington
Years of presidency listed
Denomination, motto moved from coin's front to edge
Coin is 9.2% larger than a quarter

Reverse:
Statue of Liberty
"$1" appears for the first time on a circulated U.S. coin, amounts traditionally spelled out
Second time Statue of Liberty has appeared on a circulated U.S. coin; first was 2001 New York quarter
Design won't change during the run of series

Edge:
Thickness is same as Sacagawea, Susan B. Anthony dollars
Edge is smooth, not reeded
What you'll findPhrases "E Pluribus Unum" (Out of many, one) and "In God We Trust" in recessed letters
Year of mint and letter denoting mint location, D for Denver, P for Philadelphia
First time edge lettering has been used since Double Eagle gold coins in 1932