Present-day Northampton, Massachusetts (originally referred to as "Nonotuck" by local Native Americans - the Pocumtuc), was granted its town charter in 1654 from the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In May 1653, about two dozen eastern Massachusetts settlers requested the General Court's permission to inhabit Nonotuck in the western part of the colony in order to farm and develop it; formal settlement took place in 1654. The Town of Northampton was incorporated in 1656; it was incorporated as the City of Northampton in 1883. The name "Northampton" is generally credited to John A. King, who suggested the name based on his birthplace of Northampton, England.
As 1954 approached, the city created the Northampton Tercentenary Committee to plan and guide its 300th anniversary celebration. To put Northampton in the historical context it believed proper, the Committee stated:
"When Northampton, Mass., received its charter as a city in 1654, there were probably not 75,000 Englishmen in the New World, and these were widely scattered. There existed only a long, thin line of settlements, fringing the wild shores of the Atlantic from Maine to New York, and some settlements In Maryland and Virginia. New York and the Jerseys were under the Dutch and the Swedes. William Penn had not yet received the charter which he coveted. Neither Philadelphia nor Baltimore had yet been founded. The Carolinas and Georgia had as yet no charters and no settlers. A feeble Spanish colony was clinging amidst southern fevers to an uncertain life at St.Augustine, Fla. Quite probably, the majority of the settlers at that time had never heard of the Mississippi River."
The Committee added:
"Northampton is not just a name, nor merely a city. The spirit of New England, where America began, is embodied in Northampton. America is great because it is based on the sound traditions of our city - a government of laws administered by men guided by the ideal of civil and religious liberty, truth, and justice. May Northampton continue to play its role in the Nation's future greatness."
Over its long history, Northampton has enjoyed much notice and success; I recommend an independent research project into the city's history as well as the exploration of such Northampton-linked people/events as: Shay's Rebellion (1786), World-famous opera singer Jenny Lind and Northampton's nickname of "The Paradise City" (1851), the opening of the Clark School for Hearing and Speech (1867) and Alexander Graham Bell's association with it (1870s), establishment of Smith College for women (1871) and Mayor Calvin Coolidge (1910-11) - a future US Vice President and President. (1921-29).
In February 1954, Leverett Saltonstall (R-MA) introduced a bill in the Senate that called for half dollars to be struck "in commemoration of the tercentennial celebration of the founding of the city of Northampton, Massachusetts." A companion bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by first-term Representative Edward Patrick Boland (D-MA). Each of the bills was referred to its chamber's Committee on Banking and Currency.
The bills called for the minting of a TBD number of silver half dollars of standard specifications for the City of Northampton; the bills did not include a specific mintage amount. They also did not include a specific reference to the number of US Mint facilities that could be engaged for the coins. Based on the potential number of coins to be struck (see below), it seems very likely that the mints at Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco would all have been called upon to produce coins for Northampton.
The Senate Committee reported its bill first and recommended that it pass, with amendments. The Committee recommended: 1) A mintage of up to one million (!) coins, 2) An added provision that required the initial batch of coins produced to be at least 100,000 pieces, and 3) The removal of the original specification of a minimum order size of 5,000 coins. The Committee noted that it understood that it was making the coinage recommendation over the Treasury Department's consistent objections to such bills, but believed Northampton's 300th anniversary was an event of "such magnitude and of such historical importance in the life of our country [the United States] and its institutions that it deems the event should be commemorated."
The Senate accepted the Committee's recommended amendments and made one other amendment on its own - a coin date change from the original "1953" to "1954" to correspond with the town's 1654 Charter. After approving the bill, the Senate sent it on to the House for its consideration. The House accepted the core of the bill, but amended it to include an expiration date of two years following the bill's enactment.before passing it. The amended bill was then sent back to the Senate for its review and consideration. (The House set aside its own version of the bill in lieu of the Senate version.)
The Senate had no issues with the House amendment, and passed the bill without debate. Each chamber then examined and signed the bill before it was sent to the US President - Dwight David Eisenhower - for his final approval. Unfortunately for Northampton, MA, Eisenhower did not approve of the proposed commemorative half dollar and vetoed the bill.
In his veto message, Eisenhower repeated the Treasury Department's long-standing objections: 1) they detract from coinage as a medium of exchange, 2) the potential for multiplicity of designs in circulation would be confusing to the public and 3) they facilitate counterfeiting. He also noted "I am further advised by the Treasury Department that in the past in many instances the public interest in these special coins has been so short-lived that their sales for the purposes intended have lagged with the result that large quantities have remained unsold and have been returned to the mints for melting." He concluded his message by affirming his support for the use of commemorative medals to mark such events vs. commemorative coins.
Eisenhower's veto was not challenged by Congress and the coin proposal was thus defeated.
For other of my topics on commemorative coins and medals, including more What If? stories, see:
Commems Collection.
Posted 02/16/2023 4:23 pm
