The first piece of coin legislation introduced in 2010 is a Senate companion to a nearly identical House bill proposed in April 2009 that would commemorate the 1863 invasion of Pennsylvania, the Battle of Gettysburg, and Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address with proof and uncirculated 50-cent clad, $1 silver and $5 gold coins.
Jointly introduced on February 11, 2010, by Pennsylvania Senators Arlen Specter and Robert P. Casey, Jr., the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign Act, S.3009, would authorize the United States Mint to issue up to 100,000 clad, 350,000 silver and 75,000 gold coins.
The House version, H.R. 2123, calls for differing respective quantities of 750,000, 500,000 and 100,000. The coins would be minted in 2013, which is the 150th anniversary of the battle and Lincoln’s speech at the National Cemetery in Gettysburg.
The design for each commemorative would be "emblematic of the history and memory of the Gettysburg campaign and President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address."
The reverse or tails side of the 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial Silver $1 Coins already pay tribute to Lincoln’s historic Gettysburg Address with the final words featured in the design. It would seem a difficult task to replicate their popularity with different coins bearing a similar design theme just a few years later.
With passage of S.3009, the Army Heritage Center Foundation and the Gettysburg Foundation would split surcharges for each commemorative coin sold: $35 per gold piece, $10 per silver coin and $5 per half dollar.
For coin legislation to become law, it must pass both in the House and Senate, and get signed by the President.
