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Awards a single Congressional Gold Medal to the First Rhode Island Regiment to honor the unit’s Revolutionary War service and directs the medal to be designed and struck by the Secretary of the Treasury. The medal is to be placed with the Rhode Island State Library for display and research; the United States Mint may produce and sell bronze duplicates to cover production costs, with proceeds returned to the Mint’s Public Enterprise Fund.
During the winter at Valley Forge, from 1777–1778, the Continental Army had difficulty recruiting the necessary quotas of men set by the Congress.
At the same time (winter 1777–1778), the State of Rhode Island was ordered to supply two battalions while the City of Newport was occupied by the British.
In January 1778, Brigadier General James Varnum urged General George Washington to write to Governor Nicholas Cooke of Rhode Island requesting assistance recruiting men for the Continental Line.
On February 14, 1778, the Rhode Island General Assembly voted to allow the enlistment of “every able-bodied negro, mulatto, or Indian man slave.”
The Rhode Island General Assembly provided that any enlisted slave “upon his passing muster before Colonel Christopher Greene, be immediately discharged from the service of his master or mistress, and be absolutely free as though he had never been incumbered and be incumbered with any kind of servitude or slavery.”
Declares that medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
Provides that, for purposes of 31 U.S.C. 5134 and 5136, all medals struck under this Act shall be considered numismatic items.
Primary effects are symbolic, commemorative, and administrative rather than programmatic or regulatory. The Rhode Island State Library will receive the gold medal for public display and research; that library may also loan or arrange displays at other appropriate venues. The United States Mint will incur design and production work and is authorized to finance medal production from its Public Enterprise Fund; it may sell bronze duplicates to recoup costs and must deposit sales proceeds back into that fund. Historians, researchers, educators, descendants of the Regiment’s members, and the public gain access to an officially recognized artifact and supporting historical findings. There are no direct changes to tax law, entitlement programs, or regulatory duties for state or local governments. The cost impact on the federal government is limited and largely self-funded through the Mint’s fund and sale of duplicates, so the Act does not require a new appropriation or impose ongoing financial obligations on other agencies or states.
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Introduced February 13, 2025 by Sheldon Whitehouse · Last progress February 13, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Introduced in Senate
