H. R. 1842 

One Hundred Seventeenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and twenty-two 

An Act 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint commemorative coins in recognition 

of the Bicentennial of Harriet Tubman’s birth. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Harriet Tubman Bicentennial 

Commemorative Coin Act’’. 

SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

Congress finds the following: 

(1) Harriet Tubman was a formerly enslaved abolitionist 

who guided about 70 people from slavery to freedom in 10 

years. 

(2) Born in March 1822, Tubman was a notable abolitionist 

who not only freed herself, but also freed others from slavery. 

(3) Harriet Ross Tubman, born Araminta ‘‘Minty’’ Ross, 

was born enslaved on the plantation of Anthony Thompson 

in Dorchester County, Maryland. 

(4) With the help of the Underground Railroad network, 

in the fall of 1849, Tubman escaped from Poplar Neck in 

Caroline County, Maryland, heading north to freedom in 

Pennsylvania. 

(5) With the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act as part 

of the Compromise of 1850, the operations to help enslaved 

persons escape became dangerous and she risked her life to 

rescue them from slavery. 

(6) Despite passage of the Compromise of 1850 and the 

Fugitive Slave Act, Tubman continued her work, escorting her 

refugees to Canada instead. 

(7) It was during the 1850s that Tubman made 13 trips 

back to Maryland, guiding approximately 70 enslaved persons 

to the North, including family members, and providing instruction to about 70 more who found their way to freedom on 

their own. 

(8) Regardless of the arduous process of helping fugitive 

enslaved persons escape through the Underground Railroad, 

not a single person was recaptured under Tubman’s supervision. 

(9) During 1859, Tubman aided abolitionist John Brown 

by recruiting supporters for his raid on Harper’s Ferry, a 

planned insurrection against slaveholders in Virginia and Maryland. 
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(10) In the beginning of the Civil War, Tubman served 

as a spy, cook, and nurse in South Carolina and Florida. 

(11) Tubman also recruited newly freed African-American 

men to join regiments of African-American soldiers called 

United States Colored Troops. 

(12) In recognition of her abilities, Tubman served as an 

army scout and spy for Major General David Hunter and 

Colonel James Montgomery. Harriet Tubman was inducted into 

the Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame. 

(13) Tubman distinguished herself as the first woman to 

lead an armed expedition in the Civil War, the Combahee 

River Raid, resulting in more than 700 enslaved persons in 

South Carolina being freed. 

(14) After the Civil War, Tubman frequently sheltered and 

fed newly freed enslaved persons at her home on South Street 

in Auburn, New York, which she purchased from Secretary 

of State William Henry Seward, even though she had little 

money herself. She found a means to an end by working as 

a domestic, selling produce from her garden, taking in donations 

of food, loans from friends, and raising pigs on her farm. 

(15) Tubman became active in the women’s movement as 

early as 1860. She attended meetings and gave speeches in 

her home State of New York, as well as in Boston and Washington, D.C. 

(16) Tubman was an avid advocate for African-American 

women and their civil rights. In 1896, she was invited as 

a speaker at the first meeting of the National Association 

of Colored Women in Washington, D.C. 

(17) Although living in financial insecurity, Tubman transferred a 25-acre parcel of land to the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in 1903, which eventually became The Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged and Indigent Negroes. At 

the time, few social services existed for elderly and ill people 

of color. 

(18) Escaping slavery, risking everything to save her family 

and friends, aiding enslaved persons in escape from slavery, 

leading a military raid, championing the cause of women’s 

suffrage, advocating for civil rights and access to health care, 

Harriet Tubman is an individual that has performed achievements that have had profound impacts on history and culture 

in the United States. 

SEC. 3. COIN SPECIFICATIONS. 

(a) DENOMINATIONS.—In commemoration of Harriet Tubman, 

the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter referred to in this Act 

as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall mint and issue the following coins: 

(1) $5 GOLD COINS.—Not more than 50,000 $5 coins, which 

shall— 

(A) weigh 8.359 grams; 

(B) be struck on a planchet having a diameter of 0.850 

inches; and 

(C) contain at least 90 percent gold. 

(2) $1 SILVER COINS.—Not more than 400,000 $1 coins, 

which shall— 

(A) weigh 26.73 grams; 

(B) be struck on a planchet having a diameter of 1.500 

inches; and 
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(C) contain at least 90 percent silver. 

(3) HALF-DOLLAR CLAD COINS.—Not more than 750,000 halfdollar coins which shall— 

(A) weigh 11.34 grams; 

(B) have a diameter of 1.205 inches; and 

(C) be minted to the specifications for half-dollar coins 

contained in section 5112(b) of title 31, United States Code. 

(b) LEGAL TENDER.—The coins minted under this Act shall 

be legal tender, as provided in section 5103 of title 31, United 

States Code. 

(c) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 5134 and 

5136 of title 31, United States Code, all coins minted under this 

Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 

SEC. 4. DESIGNS OF COINS. 

(a) DESIGN REQUIREMENTS.— (1) IN GENERAL.—The designs of the coins minted under 

this Act shall be emblematic of the legacy of Harriet Tubman 

as an abolitionist. At least one obverse design shall bear the 

image of Harriet Tubman. 

(2) DESIGNATION AND INSCRIPTIONS.—On each coin minted 

under this Act, there shall be— 

(A) an inscription of Harriet Tubman; 

(B) a designation of the value of the coin; 

(C) an inscription of the year ‘‘2024’’; and 

(D) inscriptions of the words ‘‘Liberty’’, ‘‘In God We 

Trust’’, ‘‘United States of America’’, and ‘‘E Pluribus 

Unum’’. 

(b) SELECTION.—The designs for the coins minted under this 

Act shall be— 

(1) selected by the Secretary, after consultation with the 

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, 

Ohio, The Harriet Tubman Home, Inc. in Auburn, New York, 

and the Commission of the Fine Arts; and 

(2) reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee. 

SEC. 5. ISSUANCE OF COINS. 

(a) QUALITY OF COINS.—Coins minted under this Act shall 

be issued in uncirculated and proof qualities. 

(b) MINT FACILITY.—Only 1 facility of the United States Mint 

may be used to strike any particular quality of the coins minted 

under this Act. 

(c) PERIOD FOR ISSUANCE.—The Secretary may issue coins under 

this Act only during the period beginning on January 1, 2024, 

and ending on December 31, 2024. 

SEC. 6. SALE OF COINS. 

(a) SALE PRICE.—The coins issued under this Act shall be 

sold by the Secretary at a price equal to the sum of— 

(1) the face value of the coins; 

(2) the surcharge provided under section 7(a) with respect 

to the coins; and 

(3) the cost of designing and issuing the coins (including 

labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, overhead expenses, 

marketing, and shipping). 

(b) BULK SALES.—The Secretary shall make bulk sales of the 

coins issued under this Act at a reasonable discount. 

(c) PREPAID ORDERS.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall accept prepaid orders 

for the coins minted under this Act before the issuance of 

the coins. 

(2) DISCOUNT.—Sale prices with respect to prepaid orders 

under paragraph (1) shall be at a reasonable discount. 

SEC. 7. SURCHARGES. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—All sales of coins issued under this Act shall 

include— 

(1) a surcharge of $35 per coin for the $5 coins; 

(2) a surcharge of $10 per coin for the $1 coins; and 

(3) a surcharge of $5 per coin for the half-dollar coin. 

(b) DISTRIBUTION.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), subject to section 5134(f) of title 31, United States Code, all surcharges received by the Secretary from the sale of coins issued 

under this Act shall be promptly paid by the Secretary equally 

to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and The Harriet Tubman Home, Inc. in Auburn, 

New York, for the purpose of accomplishing and advancing 

their missions. 

(2) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding section 5134(f)(1) of title 

31, United States Code, if an entity described in paragraph 

(1) of this subsection raises funds from private sources in an 

amount that is less than the total amount of the proceeds 

of the surcharge derived from the sale of the coins issued 

under this Act, the Secretary shall promptly pay to the other 

entity the proceeds of such surcharge. 

(c) AUDITS.—The National Underground Railroad Freedom 

Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and The Harriet Tubman Home, Inc. 

in Auburn, New York, shall be subject to the audit requirements 

of section 5134(f)(2) of title 31, United States Code, with regard 

to the amounts received under subsection (b). 

(d) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), no surcharge 

may be included with respect to the issuance under this Act of 

any coin during a calendar year if, as of the time of such issuance, 

the issuance of such coin would result in the number of commemorative coin programs issued during such year to exceed the annual 

2 commemorative coin program issuance limitation under section 

5112(m)(1) of title 31, United States Code. The Secretary of the 

Treasury may issue guidance to carry out this subsection. 

SEC. 8. FINANCIAL ASSURANCES. 

The Secretary shall take such actions as may be necessary 

to ensure that— 

(1) minting and issuing coins under this Act will not result 

in any net cost to the United States Government; and 

(2) no funds, including applicable surcharges, are disbursed 

to any recipient designated in section 7 until the total cost 

of designing and issuing all of the coins authorized by this 

Act (including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, winning 

design compensation, overhead expenses, marketing, and shipping) is recovered by the United States Treasury, consistent 
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with sections 5112(m) and 5134(f) of title 31, United States 

Code. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.