Commems Collection Classic: What If? 1937 US Constitution Sesquicentennial - NIFC

I previously wrote about the attempts in 1936 and 1937 to secure a circulating half dollar in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the adoption of the US Constitution. (You can read it here: What If? 1937 Constitution Sesquicentennial.)

In addition to those House and Senate bills calling for a one-year circulating commemorative coin, Senator Joseph F. Guffey (D-PA) introduced a Joint Resolution for a not-intended-for-circulation (NIFC) half dollar for the same anniversary. The Resolution was introduced in March 1937 and was immediately referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency.

The Resolution sought a minimum of 200,000 silver half dollars of standard specifications (no upper limit was specified), to be struck at a single US Mint facility. The coin's designs were to be developed by "the proper official authorities of the city of Philadelphia with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury." A minimum order of 25,000 coins at a time was specified, and the coins were to be "issued only upon the request of the mayor of the city of Philadelphia." Net proceeds derived from the sale of the coins was to go toward "defraying the expenses incidental and appropriate to the commemoration of such event [the 150th anniversary of the adoption of the US Constitution]."

Philadelphia was a logical place to hold anniversary commemorations as it was the site of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 (May 25 to September 17) and the site where it was adopted after debates were held in the Old Pennsylvania State House / Independence Hall. Philadelphia kicked off its commemoration on May 14, 1937, a date it proclaimed to be in line with creation of the "original first draft" of the Constitution ahead of the Convention. (Such a proclamation is highly questionable, IMO, as history records the referenced document as a pre-Convention Committee Report vs. a document drafted by the Convention delegates.) (Note: Delegates for the Convention arrived as early as May 14, 1787 but a quorum of the seven states needed was not achieved until May 25, 1787.)

In April 1937, a Hearing by the Subcommittee on Coinage and Philippine Currency of the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency, was held to review 17 different commemorative coin bills and one Joint Resolution for the same purpose - 18 proposed commemorative coins in total! The one Joint Resolution on the agenda was the Senate Resolution calling for the NIFC US Constitution half dollar.

During the Hearing, a discussion was had regarding the possibility of authorizing commemorative medals instead of commemorative coins. Senator Guffey offered: "I think, perhaps, the time has really come when we should adopt a policy favoring medals. I will not withdraw my joint resolution, and I will say that I should like to have something to commemorate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, but I take it a medal would answer our purpose."

Guffey's Joint Resolution was not specifically discussed during the Hearing, nor was it reported out by the Committee. As a result, the bill was never considered by the full Senate and died for lack of action when the 75th Congress adjourned in June 1938.

With the failure of the Joint Resolution, the US went without a commemorative coin - circulating or NIFC - that recognized a major anniversary milestone for the document that established the country's fundamental governing framework. Though the bicentennial of the Constitution was commemorated in 1987 with gold and silver coins, I think it was a national embarrassment that Congress couldn't come together and authorize a commemorative half dollar for the 150th anniversary of such a seminal event in US history.


Note: Congress did not completely ignore the 1937 anniversary. It created the United States Constitution Sesquicentennial Commission in 1936 to plan and coordinate appropriate celebration events. It is interesting to note that the Commission was at odds with Philadelphia and its Mayor on multiple commemoration issues, not the least of which was the city's celebration kick-off on May 14, 1937 when the Commission set September 17, 1937 as the official national anniversary date; commemoration events were held across the country in September.


For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more on the half dollars referenced here, see: Commems Collection.