Dollar Coin

First, I don't care what happens in other countries concerning their coin designs. If their citizens wish to put Iraqis going to the polls or a Chinese student standing in front of tank on a coin, go for it. The discussion here is about the future of American coinage...not some world order coinage. Too often we are worried about what Europe thinks first instead of what is best for this country.

The depiction of some form of Lady Liberty goes back for many years...years even before this country was founded. Her likeness is loaded with symbolism so that a consistent message of freedom, liberty, majasty, power and grace are communicated as one. You can't accomplish that with one person representing everything. You can (and it has been accomplished) with this symbol representing all as no one person is above the deep roots of Lady Liberty's history and symbolism.

Like I stated, before you go forward, you need to understand the past. So I will teach you...

Centuries before Lady Freedom topped the U.S. Capitol or the Statue of Liberty dominated New York Harbor, images of women were already widely used to symbolize the traits, virtues and opportunities of the United States of America. Art historians have traced images of America's lady liberty back to the first years of European discovery and invasion, when America--the untamed New World--was symbolized as the Indian Queen, a voluptuous, but stern Native American woman dressed in little more than head feathers. Portrayed sitting astride a giant armadillo or sporting a tomahawk, the Indian Queen represented exoticism, danger and adventure: attributes that 16th- and 17th-century explorers most associated with their new land.

By the age of late colonization, however, the Indian Queen came to be seen as perhaps too savage a symbol for the settlers' new home. She was soon replaced with a tamer, more anglicized American image: the Indian Princess, a tawny, barefoot beauty often guarded by a rattlesnake. Pocahontas, a Native American woman who is said to have saved the life of Virginia's Captain John Smith, serves as one of the most memorable depictions of this Indian Princess. (For a closer look at the appropriation of Pocahontas as American symbol, see John Blackburn, Pocahontas: Icon at the Crossroads of Race and Gender in America). In the 19th century, the "Indian" in the face of the Indian Princess dissolved into a lighter-skinned, more classical image. Her headdress of eagle feathers evolved into ostrich plumes spraying from a bonnet or helmet. The European settlers began to adopt this once-upon-a- time exotic princess as one of their own.

In the years surrounding the American revolution, the image of the Indian Princess began to compete with emblems of the Greek goddess emerging from the European schools of classical art and architecture. "By the late 1790s," historians point out, "it was not clear whether a feathered Indian Princess had changed into a Greek goddess or whether a greek goddess had placed feathers or plumes in her hair". Alluding to the order and sovereignty of the antique democratic state, the Plumed Greek Goddess represented what the United States, an eager new country, wanted to be. Wrapped in a toga and wearing high-laced sandals, the Plumed Greek Goddess signified a merging of the neoclassical with the new iconography of America. She was sometimes depicted holding a liberty pole, propping up a shield of the United States, standing beside a bust or depiction of George Washington, or offering food to a bald eagle.

In the United States' youngest years, images of the Plumed Greek Goddess or the Indian Princess soon shared space, and at times meshed with, slightly different versions of the female figure of freedom. Columbia, sometimes considered the feminine counterpart to Christopher Columbus, emerged as yet another icon for the United States. Dressed in classical robes, but with a kinder face than the Plumed Greek Goddess, Columbia did not appear with plumed ostrich feathers, nor bows and arrows. But the liberty cap and pole almost always accompanied her, and the stars and stripes of America could be found on her dress or cap.

With so many varying forms of the lady liberty, artists began to mix traits from the Indian Princess, the Plumed Greek Goddess and Columbia. Other figures merged with these images as well, especially the Greek representations of the Goddess of Wisdom (Minerva) and the Goddess of Liberty. The Goddess of Liberty, in fact, became "so intimately identified with the American cause as in effect to become Americanized.... we have either Liberty representing the United States or the United States interpreted as Liberty". This Lady Liberty is, by many accounts, the most frequently portrayed of the four American personifications. With her hair flowing behind her, carrying the liberty pole or draped in classical garb, Lady Liberty became the emblem of choice for the U.S. cent and half- cent coins. A plaster statue of Liberty and the Eagle even stands above and behind the speaker's chair in the House of Representatives...see my above post with this picture.

Today, representations of lady liberty blend and borrow from each of these images. The Statue of Liberty has been described by historians as a "synthomorphosis" of forms, a term that aptly describes the way both the New York statue and Lady Freedom atop the U.S. Capitol were formed. Both statues include variations of headdresses, props and clothing: The Statue of Liberty is crowned with a helmet of sun-ray spikes, an allusion to the headgear of the Colossus of Rhodes, a monument to the Sun-God Helios standing astride a Greek harbor, which is said to be one of the key influences on the New York statue. The Statue of Liberty's gown folds around her like a classical Greek toga; the torch in her hand gestures back to images of Liberty holding out an offering to the Bald Eagle. Lady Freedom wears a helmet of plumed feathers, and looks, from a distance, like an Indian warrior. A circle of stars, similar to Columbia's accessories, rings her head. She holds a laurel wreath and shield in her left hand, while carrying a sword with her right.

Analyzing these two statues in particular, and understanding them within the context of the symbols they both carry, an interesting question emerges: Why were these particular signifiers chosen? Why is Lady Freedom crowned with a helmet instead of a liberty cap? Why does the Statue of Liberty carry a stone tablet and torch instead of a sword or shield? As historians have begun to uncover the context and pressure under which Lady Freedom and the Statue of Liberty were designed, deeper meanings behind these two statues begin to unfold--and their multiple layers of political, social and aesthetic meanings start to take shape.

Again, if you can find a single person that represents this fine tradition along with the whole message found in Liberty's design and metamorphosis over 300 plus years, I am all for it. But, you will have to argue why one person deserves it more so over the next person who may be more deserving of the same honor. Want to eliminate the argument altogether? Design a new depiction of this great symbol that has served us well over the entire history of our country.

Class dismissed...

 

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Class is back in session...

Thank you for the historical article you copied from the internet. It was interesting, but didn't inform me of anything I didn't already know.

You say that the representation of LIBERTY on our coins represents ALL the people. So, let me ask you this:

1. In 1793, when that beautiful Flowing Hair Liberty design first appeared on coinage, was she also defending the rights of slaves (or just slave-owners)?

2. In 1840, we see Ms. LIBERTY in a seated position. Perhaps she was tired from defending the rights of American Indians forcibly removed from their homeland by the U.S. Government in 1838. You've heard of the Trail of Tears, haven't you?

3. From 1878 to 1921 when the Morgan Dollar appeared with her tiara proclaiming LIBERTY (supposedly for ALL people), was she defending the rights of those excluded by the 1883 Supreme Court decision that ruled unconstitutional the Civil Rights Act of 1875? Where was she in 1896 during Plessy v. Ferguson?

4. In 1907, when the St. Gauden's coin appeared with her majestic flowing robe and outstretched torch, was she also representing the oppressed females of our country who couldn't vote?

5. In 1916, when the Standing Liberty Quarter appeared with her magnificent shield ready to defend the rights of the people, was she also defending the rights of African-Americans in this country who couldn't go to the same schools as Caucasians?

6. In 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to sit at the back of the bus, Ms. LIBERTY didn't appear on our coinage. Perhaps she had concluded that she could no longer defend the rights of ALL the people and decided to give it a break. Perhaps she was leaving it up to the people to defend their own rights. What do you think?

7. You propose a new design for LIBERTY on modern coinage. Will you design her so that she defends the rights of homosexuals in this country inasmuch as she defends the rights of heterosexuals?

If you can't understand these basic principles of freedom and if you truly believe that LIBERTY has represented ALL our people throughout our country's history, perhaps you slept through History class in High School. Some of your local Junior Colleges may offer History courses; that's something you may want to check into.

I would rather honor real men and women who had the courage to stand up and fight against the injustices I've mentioned. THAT is the embodiment of LIBERTY!

... school's out for Summer.

 

My heart is bleeding...you are right! This country is just awful! How dare anybody even suggest a depiction of Liberty and all the symbolism she represents when this country has a history of injustice after injustice. How dare we have the symbol of Liberty gracing New York City's harbor while injustices are occuring right behind her back! How can you even live in this country when it has been so bad?

While you are at it...let's dump Washington and Jefferson. They were two Virginia slave owners. Take their name off of monuments, bridges and schools. If one Afro-American attends a school named Jefferson...they should sue! Let's get the ACLU involved because in the words of the famous patriot Rodney King, "No justice, no peace." Don't even think about depicting their likeness on dollar coins for these men were monsters. A slave owner on our coin??..."No justice, no peace". Andrew Jackson once said that the only good indian is a dead indian...he's got to go too. The Superbowl played in Jacksonville this past February should have been played in Indianville...not Jacksonvile. The nerve of that evil white man.

Matter of fact, many schools with names of slave holder Presidents are CHANGING their names! Here's an example:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/03/22/BAGIIBSTMA1.DTL

Unbelievable, but true! If you can stop Jefferson from appearing on a dollar coin because he was a nasty-mean-white slave owner, then you have to stop EVERYBODY...because we have to be nice and fair...right?

Let's march on Washington and rip down every symbol of Liberty including this country's flag. After all, the flag has upset many of our foreign students educating themselves on this soil...so it if offends them...BURN IT!

If homosexuals want to yell they are queer and here, tell them to keep it to themselves and stop trying to tell my young boys that it is okay to have two daddies. I'll leave them alone when they will leave me alone!

You can say what you want about my view points that support the good of this country (as a whole), but I am not going to sit here and let you bad mouth the United States of America. Gentlemen...whose with me?

Now look what you did...you hurt her feelings and all that she represents:

 

You blew this WAY out of proportion. He was simply asking where Lady Liberty was in those cases. And your post was very un-American. Telling people to march in Washington, and burn the flag. I would have thrown you in jail for treason. Also, your portion about homosexuals was completely uncalled for.

 

I agree, GDJMSP.

I simply ask that participants of this forum who wish to do so, read my comments and also the comments of the respondents and judge for themselves concerning the topics we've discussed.

I harbor no ill will toward anyone in this forum. Naturally, there will be opposing points of view and, hopefully, this forum will continue to allow such debate (only "toned down" a bit as you put it ); that's one of the reasons I love our First Amendment.

This is, after all, a forum to discuss coins, right?