Rejected Designs

The 2026 coin designs issued for America’s 250th anniversary were revealed last week, and not all of the originally proposed designs made the cut. The Trump administration has dropped plans for 2026 commemorative quarters that would have honored the abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, and the civil rights movement. The Treasury Department replaced these themes with designs featuring the Mayflower, the Revolutionary War, and the Gettysburg Address. 

The administration offered no explanation for the change, which comes amid its broader effort to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and distance itself from what it calls “woke” ideology. President Donald Trump has also accused institutions such as the Smithsonian of emphasizing negative aspects of U.S. history.

The move appears to contradict the law authorizing the commemorative currency, signed during Trump’s first term. The Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 states that one of the quarter designs “must be emblematic of a woman’s or women’s contribution to the birth of the nation or the Declaration of Independence or any other monumental moments in American history.” The Mayflower Compact quarter shows a woman, which technically could satisfy this requirement, although the coin is hardly symbolic of women’s larger contributions to the United States.