The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, May 5, 2010, passed new legislation that would honor American moms with silver dollar coins struck by the United States Mint.
The passage comes just days before Mother’s Day, which is held each year on the second Sunday in May.
However, when it comes to whether the bill becomes law, moms and collectors may not want to hold their breadth. Similar legislation has had a history of passing in the House, only to die from inaction on the Senate’s part.
The Mother’s Day Centennial Commemorative Coin Act, numbered H.R. 2421, was introduced on May 14, 2009, by Rep. Shelley Moore Capito.
"As a daughter, a mother and most recently, a grandmother, I’m encouraged by my colleagues support in honoring this important day celebrated by families across our nation," said Capito following her bill’s passage. "I now look forward to the Senate’s swift passage of the Mother’s Day Coin Act so the bill may be signed into law."
A companion Senate bill was actually introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller a week prior to Capito’s. Rockefeller also submitted a Mother’s Day bill for the same purpose back in 2008.
For legislation to become law, it must pass in both the House and Senate, and get signed by the President. That, obviously, has failed to happen. However, there seems a better chance this year given the centennial is fast approaching.
Commemorative Coin Information
H.R. 2421 would authorize the U.S. Treasury to have the Mint strike up to 400,000 silver dollar coins in both proof and uncirculated condition during the year 2014.
A $10 surcharge for each coin sold would be split with:
- 1/2 going to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure for the purpose of furthering research funded by the organization.
- 1/2 sent to the National Osteoporosis Foundation for the purpose of furthering research funded by the Foundation.
As typical with most coin legislation, the design of the coins is vague, only stating that they must be "be emblematic of the 100th anniversary of President Wilson’s proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day."
Each legal tender commemorative coin would be struck from 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper, have a weight of 26.73 grams and a diameter of 1.500 inches.
Mother’s Day History
Anna Jarvis is considered to be the founder of Mother’s Day. Jarvis was born in the small town of Webster in Taylor County in 1864 and later moved with her family to Grafton, West Virginia. Soon after the 1905 death of her mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis, Anna campaigned for a national Mother’s Day holiday.
The Matthews Methodist Episcopal Church of Grafton officially celebrated Mother’s Day in 1908. West Virginia Governor, William Glasscock, issued the first Mother’s Day Proclamation encouraging all West Virginians to attend church and wear white carnations in 1910.
It was on May 8, 1914, that the Sixty-Third Congress approved H.J. Res. 263 designating the second Sunday in May to be observed as Mother’s Day and encouraging all Americans to display the American flag at their homes as a public expression of the love and reverence for the mothers of our Nation.
In an interesting turn, later in life Anna Jarvis became discouraged with the commercialism of the day. It is said she regretted its creation due to that fact. She campaigned against it and went as far as filing suite regarding its celebration in New York.
Anna Jarvis was blind and penniless when she died in 1948.
