Horses
USA - Delaware State Quarter


Obverse
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Reverse
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Coin Details

  

Set Details
Coin Description: S1T 1976 U.S. BICENTENNIAL
Grade: PCGS PF 67 Ultra Cameo
Owner: brg5658
 
Set Category: Thematic & Topical Coins
Set Name: Horses
Slot Name: USA - Delaware State Quarter
Research: See NGC's Census Report for this Coin

Owner's Description

Purchased on eBay on 4/17/2011. Small mintage of 4,127 coins. This coin celebrates the bicentennial of U.S. Independence (1776-1976). At the same time, it celebrates the independence of Western Samoa from New Zealand (1962-1976). Western Samoa is today known as simply "Samoa" or, officially, the "Independent State of Samoa". In December of 1976 it became a member state of the United Nations. Because of the image on the reverse of this coin (including the rider on horseback), I decided to dedicate this coin to the westward expansion of the United States. In particular, the idea of "manifest destiny". Manifest Destiny was the 19th century American belief that the United States was destined to expand across the continent. It was used by Democrat-Republicans in the 1840s to justify the war with Mexico; the concept was denounced by Whigs, and fell into disuse after the mid-19th century. Advocates of Manifest Destiny believed that expansion was not only wise but that it was readily apparent (manifest) and inexorable (destiny). The concept of American expansion is much older, but John L. O'Sullivan coined the exact term "Manifest Destiny" in the July/August 1845 issue of the United States Magazine and Democratic Review in an article titled "Annexation." The belief in an American mission to promote and defend democracy throughout the world, as expounded by Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson, continues to have an influence on American political ideology. The painting by John Gast is titled "American Progress" is an allegorical representation of the modernization of the new west. Here Columbia, a personification of the United States, leads civilization westward with American settlers, stringing telegraph wire as she sweeps west; she holds a school book. The different stages of economic activity of the pioneers are highlighted and, especially, the changing forms of transportation. Native Americans and animals flee in terror.

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