Representative Lindsay Carter Warren (D-NC) introduced the Roanoke Colony Memorial Half Dollar bill in the House in May 1936. It called for 50-cent coins "in commemoration of the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Sir Walter Raleigh's colony on Roanoke Island, N. C., known in history as the Lost Colony, and the birth of Virginia Dare, the first child of English parentage to be born on the American Continent, and her baptism." Representative Warren was also responsible for the House Concurrent Resolution that established the Roanoke Colony Commission (see link below).
The bills sought authorization for 25,000 coins. As it was introduced after the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency had established standard parameters for commemorative coin proposals (see link below), the bill specified that the coins were to be struck at a single US Mint facility, were all to bear the date "1937" and were to be issued only through July 1, 1937. With these provisions already included in the bill, objections to it were not expected.
Commemorative coin bills introduced in the House are normally referred to the House Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures. However, Warren's Roanoke bill was referred, instead, to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. This allowed the bill to be brought up for immediate consideration with a unanimous consent request. As there were no objections voiced, the bill was read a third time and passed. It was then sent to the Senate.
Once received in the Senate, the bill was referred to its Committee on Banking and Currency. The Committee reported the bill with a recommendation to pass with one minor amendment: removal of the phrase concerning Virginia Dare's baptism in the title and body of the bill.
The amended bill was considered and passed by the Senate without discussion. It was then sent back to the House for concurrence. The House also passed the Senate-amended bill without objection or debate. The bill was then examined and signed in each chamber and sent to the President for approval.
US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the bill into law on June 24, 1936. Congress had already adjourned by this time, but the Committee on Enrolled Bills remained available to receive/record the approval notices. (Certain administrative business matters are continued by designated committees after Congress' adjournment.)
So, as anticipated, it was a "smooth sail" in Congress for the Roanoke Colony Memorial Half Dollar!
1937 Roanoke Colony Memorial Half Dollar
Related posts referenced above:
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1937 Roanoke Colony Memorial - Potential Precursor? -- Discussion of Roanoke Colony Commission
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Senate Committee on Banking and CurrencyFor other of my several posts about the Roanoke half, and other commemorative coins and medals, see:
Commems Collection.
Posted 03/10/2022 06:55 am
