The 50 State Quarters program (Pub.L. 105-124, 111 Stat. 2534, enacted December 1, 1997) is the release of a series of circulating commemorative coins by the United States Mint. From 1999 through 2008, it featured each of the 50 U.S. states on unique designs for the reverse of the quarter.
In 2009, the U.S. Mint started issuing quarters under the 2009 District of Columbia and U.S. Territories Program, authorized by the passage of H.R. 2764. This program features the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands. Although the Territories Quarter Program was authorized by a different legislative Act, it is typically seen as an extension of the 50 State Quarters program.
The program was conceived as a means of creating a new generation of coin collectors, and in that it succeeded. The 50 State Quarters program became the most successful numismatic program in history, with roughly half of the U.S. population collecting the coins, either in casual manner or as a serious pursuit. The U.S. federal government so far has made additional profits of $3.0 billion from collectors taking the coins out of circulation.
Read more about 50 State Quarters: Treasury Opposition and Congressional Enactment, State Quarter Program, Designs, Additional Notes On Individual Designs, Year Map, Collectible Value, Seigniorage, Satire
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“To one who habitually endeavors to contemplate the true state of things, the political state can hardly be said to have any existence whatever. It is unreal, incredible, and insignificant to him, and for him to endeavor to extract the truth from such lean material is like making sugar from linen rags, when sugar-cane may be had.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883–59 B.C.)