What This Bill Does
This bill authorizes a posthumous Congressional Gold Medal to be awarded collectively to African Americans who served with Union forces during the Civil War. The medal recognizes their bravery and outstanding service.
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Who It Affects
The bill directly affects the African Americans who served with Union forces during the Civil War, though the award is posthumous (given after death). The bill also affects the Smithsonian Institution, which will receive and display the medal.
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Key Provisions
• The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate must arrange for the presentation of a gold medal to recognize African Americans who served with Union forces during the Civil War. (Sec. 3(a))
• The Secretary of the Treasury will design and create a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices and inscriptions to be determined by the Secretary. (Sec. 3(b))
• Following the medal's award, it must be given to the Smithsonian Institution for display and research purposes. (Sec. 3(c)(1))
• The Secretary of the Treasury may create and sell bronze duplicate copies of the gold medal at a price that covers all production costs. (Sec. 4)
• Costs for creating the medals will be paid from the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund, and money from selling duplicate medals will be deposited back into that fund. (Sec. 6)
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What Changes
A Congressional Gold Medal recognizing African Americans who served with Union forces during the Civil War will be created and presented. This medal will be housed at the Smithsonian Institution.
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Important Definitions
• USCT: United States Colored Troops, regiments of the Union Army composed of African American men, established by the War Department in 1863.
• Posthumous: awarded after death.
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I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 865
To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the Afri-
can Americans who served with Union forces during the Civil War,
in recognition of their bravery and outstanding service.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 7, 2023
Ms. NORTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House
Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal, collec-
tively, to the African Americans who served with Union
forces during the Civil War, in recognition of their brav-
ery and outstanding service.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States Colored
4
Troops Congressional Gold Medal Act’’.
5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
6
Congress finds the following:
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•HR 865 IH
(1) Since the colonial era, African Americans
1
have served the United States in times of war.
2
(2) During the Civil War, approximately
3
200,000 African-American men served in the Union
4
Army and 19,000 African-American men served in
5
the Union Navy.
6
(3) During the Civil War, African-American
7
women were not allowed to formally enlist as soldiers
8
or sailors, though they served as nurses, cooks,
9
spies, and scouts for the Union Army and the Union
10
Navy.
11
(4) While African-American men served in the
12
Navy since its establishment, there was resistance to
13
enlisting them to take up arms for the Union Army
14
at the start of the Civil War.
15
(5) As the Civil War dragged on, President
16
Lincoln broke from the previous policy of his admin-
17
istration and determined that liberating enslaved
18
persons ‘‘was a military necessity absolutely essen-
19
tial for the salvation of the Union’’.
20
(6) The Act entitled ‘‘An Act to suppress insur-
21
rection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and
22
confiscate the property of rebels, and for other pur-
23
poses’’, approved July 17, 1862 (commonly known
24
as the ‘‘Second Confiscation Act’’) (12 Stat. 589;
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•HR 865 IH
chapter 195), and the Act of July 17, 1862 (com-
1
monly known as the ‘‘Military Act of 1862’’) (12
2
Stat. 597; chapter 201), were the first official au-
3
thorizations to employ African Americans in the
4
Union Army.
5
(7) It was not until January 1, 1863, the effec-
6
tive date of the Emancipation Proclamation issued
7
by President Lincoln, that the Union Army was or-
8
dered to receive African-American men.
9
(8) On May 22, 1863, the United States War
10
Department issued General Order Number 143,
11
which established the Bureau of Colored Troops for
12
the recruitment and organization of regiments of the
13
Union Army composed of African-American men,
14
called the United States Colored Troops (referred to
15
in this section as ‘‘USCT’’).
16
(9) Leaders such as Frederick Douglass encour-
17
aged African Americans to enlist to advance the
18
cause of citizenship. ‘‘Once let the black man get
19
upon his person the brass letters, ‘U.S.’, let him get
20
an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoul-
21
der and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on
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[E]arth that can deny that he has earned the right
23
to citizenship.’’, wrote Douglass.
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•HR 865 IH
(10) African-American sailors constituted a sig-
1
nificant segment of the Union Navy, making up 20
2
percent of the total enlisted force of the Navy.
3
(11) Although there were rank restrictions on
4
African Americans in the Navy before the Civil War,
5
this policy changed after the establishment of the
6
USCT, when the Union Navy started to compete
7
with the Union Army for enlistment of African
8
Americans.
9
(12) Yet, in practice, most African Americans
10
could not advance beyond lowest ranks of ‘‘boy’’ and
11
‘‘landsman.’’
12
(13) African-American soldiers and sailors
13
served with distinction, honor, and bravery amid ra-
14
cial discrimination and adverse circumstances, in-
15
cluding the risk of enslavement and torture if cap-
16
tured.
17
(14) Eighteen members of the USCT and 8 Af-
18
rican-American sailors were awarded the Medal of
19
Honor, the highest honor in the United States for
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bravery in combat.
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(15) For generations after the Civil War, the
22
contributions of African Americans in the Civil War
23
were excluded from historical memory.
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•HR 865 IH
(16) Public Law No. 102–412 (106 Stat. 2104)
1
authorized the establishment of a memorial on Fed-
2
eral land in the District of Columbia to honor Afri-
3
can Americans who served with Union forces during
4
the Civil War.
5
(17) This memorial, featuring a bronze statue
6
of USCT soldiers, an African-American sailor and
7
family, is surrounded by the Wall of Honor, which
8
lists the names of the members of the USCT.
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(18) The African American Civil War Museum
10
is located in the District of Columbia.
11
(19) Patriots and heroes who rose in service to
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a Nation that would not fully recognize them, the
13
African Americans who served the Union during the
14
Civil War deserve our recognition for their contribu-
15
tions to the grant of emancipation and citizenship
16
for nearly 4,000,000 enslaved people and the preser-
17
vation of the Union.
18
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
19
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of
20
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-
21
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements
22
for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of Congress,
23
of a gold medal of appropriate design to the African Amer-
24
icans who served with Union forces during the Civil War,
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•HR 865 IH
collectively, in recognition of their bravery and out-
1
standing service during the Civil War.
2
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the
3
award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the
4
Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec-
5
retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems,
6
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-
7
retary.
8
(c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.—
9
(1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the
10
gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal
11
shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where
12
the medal shall be available for display as appro-
13
priate and available for research.
14
(2) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.—It is the sense
15
of Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should
16
make the gold medal received under paragraph (1)
17
available for display elsewhere, particularly at appro-
18
priate locations associated with the United States
19
Colored Troops.
20
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
21
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in
22
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 at
23
a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor,
24
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses.
25
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•HR 865 IH
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
1
(a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu-
2
ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter
3
51 of title 31, United States Code.
4
(b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section
5
5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck
6
under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items.
7
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF
8
SALE.
9
(a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is
10
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint
11
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-
12
essary to pay for the cost of the medals struck under this
13
Act.
14
(b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the
15
sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 4 shall be
16
deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise
17
Fund.
18
Æ
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