The people's coin

Why the penny isn't going anywhere

When Abraham Lincoln first put himself forward as a candidate for public office, at the age of 23, he gave the type of an articulate address that belied his upbringing on the prairies of Indiana and Illinois. And he fully embraced his humble origins, too:

“I am young and unknown to many of you. I was born and have ever remained in the most humble walks of life. I have no wealthy or popular relations to recommend me.”

Two decades later, after Lincoln had made something of a name for himself at the national level, he again reminded anyone who cared to notice exactly where he came from:

“It is great folly to attempt to make anything out of me or my early life. It can all be condensed into a single sentence; and that sentence you will find in Gray's Elegy: 'The short and simple annals of the poor.' That's my life and that's all you or anyone else can make out of it.”

Unlike his wife Mary Todd, who was raised in wealth and comfort on a Kentucky plantation, and unlike many others who assumed that their station in life put them ahead of Lincoln in terms of intellect or ability, Lincoln was well aware of the limitations he had overcome in his life. How he was able to do this seems like a miracle sometimes, but that he did so is an essential chapter in America’s continued survival as a nation.

It’s altogether fitting and proper—to borrow a phrase Lincoln employed in the Gettysburg Address—that someone who rose from such beginnings should be depicted on our most humble, and thus our most essential, bit of currency. Where would we be without the proverbial Lucky Penny, or the phrase “a penny for your thoughts,” or even the concept of giving your “two cents worth” about anything? After all, if you haven’t got a penny to begin with, there’s no way that you’ll ever have two.

Many people might not be aware that Abraham Lincoln was the first actual human to be honored with his likeness on an American coin. While putting a ruler’s likeness onto coins was a common practice since times of antiquity, our national experience was to use depictions of Liberty, instead. It wasn’t until the centennial year of Lincoln’s birth in 1909 that the likeness of an American graced a coin. Whoever made the decision to put Lincoln on the coin with the lowest possible value, and the widest number of coins in circulation, paid the Great Emancipator a compliment that I imagine he would have greatly appreciated.

When I was a teacher in the Chicago public schools, at the end of the last century, I heard from my students most fascinating—and disturbing—myth they had grown up believing about Lincoln and the penny. The fact that the penny was brown, while all the other coins where a silvery white, was intended as a slight against Lincoln for having freed the slaves through Emancipation. Additionally, all of the presidents on the “white” coins are looking toward the holder’s left, while Lincoln is looking off to the right, which signifies they had turned their backs on Lincoln as a sign of disrespect.

It broke my heart a little bit to realize that not only did someone once go to the trouble of reading an insult into the appearance of American coinage, but that such a notion didn’t seem to be as far-fetched to many of them as it was for me. All I could do in that situation was tell them it wasn’t the case, but then I was coming from the side of the nickles and dimes and quarters, so my words probably didn’t carry too much weight with them, either.

If there is ever going to be a one dollar coin in this country, the way that there’s a one-euro coin in Europe, I’m certain that Donald Trump imagines he will be on it. And none of this little, brown worthlessness that Abraham Lincoln currently adorns, and has for as long as any of us have been alive. No, the Trump coin must be the shiniest and the brightest and the best. Perhaps even a golden coin, befitting of his standing as the greatest American president of all time. If you don’t think his mind works like this, well, I suggest you haven’t been paying attention.

I’m writing this out on the eve of what would be Abraham Lincoln’s 216th birthday, which is a statewide holiday in my home state of Illinois. Ronald Reagan was born here, and Barack Obama made his name here, but this can only be the Land of Lincoln. And just as nobody could deny Lincoln’s honored place in this state’s history, no president—regardless of whatever mandate he might think he possesses—should ever have the authority to wipe away the most honored and beloved of all presidents, and the coin that so thoroughly embodies his great legacy.