Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1087 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1087
5	5	To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the Afri-
6	6	can Americans who served with Union forces during the Civil War,
7	7	in recognition of their bravery and outstanding service.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	FEBRUARY6, 2025
10	10	Ms. N
11	11	ORTON(for herself, Mr. AMO, Mr. BEYER, Mr. CARTERof Louisiana,
12	12	Mr. G
13	13	RIJALVA, Mrs. HAYES, and Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia) introduced
14	14	the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Serv-
15	15	ices, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a
16	16	period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
17	17	consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
18	18	mittee concerned
19	19	A BILL
20	20	To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal, collec-
21	21	tively, to the African Americans who served with Union
22	22	forces during the Civil War, in recognition of their brav-
23	23	ery and outstanding service.
24	24	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
25	25	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
26	26	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
27	27	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States Colored 4
28	28	Troops Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
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31	31	•HR 1087 IH
32	32	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
33	33	Congress finds the following: 2
34	34	(1) Since the colonial era, African Americans 3
35	35	have served the United States in times of war. 4
36	36	(2) During the Civil War, approximately 5
37	37	200,000 African-American men served in the Union 6
38	38	Army and 19,000 African-American men served in 7
39	39	the Union Navy. 8
40	40	(3) During the Civil War, African-American 9
41	41	women were not allowed to formally enlist as soldiers 10
42	42	or sailors, though they served as nurses, cooks, 11
43	43	spies, and scouts for the Union Army and the Union 12
44	44	Navy. 13
45	45	(4) While African-American men served in the 14
46	46	Navy since its establishment, there was resistance to 15
47	47	enlisting them to take up arms for the Union Army 16
48	48	at the start of the Civil War. 17
49	49	(5) As the Civil War dragged on, President 18
50	50	Lincoln broke from the previous policy of his admin-19
51	51	istration and determined that liberating enslaved 20
52	52	persons ‘‘was a military necessity absolutely essen-21
53	53	tial for the salvation of the Union’’. 22
54	54	(6) The Act entitled ‘‘An Act to suppress insur-23
55	55	rection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and 24
56	56	confiscate the property of rebels, and for other pur-25
57	57	poses’’, approved July 17, 1862 (commonly known 26
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60	60	•HR 1087 IH
61	61	as the ‘‘Second Confiscation Act’’) (12 Stat. 589; 1
62	62	chapter 195), and the Act of July 17, 1862 (com-2
63	63	monly known as the ‘‘Military Act of 1862’’) (12 3
64	64	Stat. 597; chapter 201), were the first official au-4
65	65	thorizations to employ African Americans in the 5
66	66	Union Army. 6
67	67	(7) It was not until January 1, 1863, the effec-7
68	68	tive date of the Emancipation Proclamation issued 8
69	69	by President Lincoln, that the Union Army was or-9
70	70	dered to receive African-American men. 10
71	71	(8) On May 22, 1863, the United States War 11
72	72	Department issued General Order Number 143, 12
73	73	which established the Bureau of Colored Troops for 13
74	74	the recruitment and organization of regiments of the 14
75	75	Union Army composed of African-American men, 15
76	76	called the United States Colored Troops (referred to 16
77	77	in this section as ‘‘USCT’’). 17
78	78	(9) Leaders such as Frederick Douglass encour-18
79	79	aged African Americans to enlist to advance the 19
80	80	cause of citizenship. ‘‘Once let the black man get 20
81	81	upon his person the brass letters, ‘U.S.’, let him get 21
82	82	an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoul-22
83	83	der and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on 23
84	84	[E]arth that can deny that he has earned the right 24
85	85	to citizenship.’’, wrote Douglass. 25
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88	88	•HR 1087 IH
89	89	(10) African-American sailors constituted a sig-1
90	90	nificant segment of the Union Navy, making up 20 2
91	91	percent of the total enlisted force of the Navy. 3
92	92	(11) Although there were rank restrictions on 4
93	93	African Americans in the Navy before the Civil War, 5
94	94	this policy changed after the establishment of the 6
95	95	USCT, when the Union Navy started to compete 7
96	96	with the Union Army for enlistment of African 8
97	97	Americans. 9
98	98	(12) Yet, in practice, most African Americans 10
99	99	could not advance beyond lowest ranks of ‘‘boy’’ and 11
100	100	‘‘landsman.’’ 12
101	101	(13) African-American soldiers and sailors 13
102	102	served with distinction, honor, and bravery amid ra-14
103	103	cial discrimination and adverse circumstances, in-15
104	104	cluding the risk of enslavement and torture if cap-16
105	105	tured. 17
106	106	(14) Eighteen members of the USCT and 8 Af-18
107	107	rican-American sailors were awarded the Medal of 19
108	108	Honor, the highest honor in the United States for 20
109	109	bravery in combat. 21
110	110	(15) For generations after the Civil War, the 22
111	111	contributions of African Americans in the Civil War 23
112	112	were excluded from historical memory. 24
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115	115	•HR 1087 IH
116	116	(16) Public Law No. 102–412 (106 Stat. 2104) 1
117	117	authorized the establishment of a memorial on Fed-2
118	118	eral land in the District of Columbia to honor Afri-3
119	119	can Americans who served with Union forces during 4
120	120	the Civil War. 5
121	121	(17) This memorial, featuring a bronze statue 6
122	122	of USCT soldiers, an African-American sailor and 7
123	123	family, is surrounded by the Wall of Honor, which 8
124	124	lists the names of the members of the USCT. 9
125	125	(18) The African American Civil War Museum 10
126	126	is located in the District of Columbia. 11
127	127	(19) Patriots and heroes who rose in service to 12
128	128	a Nation that would not fully recognize them, the 13
129	129	African Americans who served the Union during the 14
130	130	Civil War deserve our recognition for their contribu-15
131	131	tions to the grant of emancipation and citizenship 16
132	132	for nearly 4,000,000 enslaved people and the preser-17
133	133	vation of the Union. 18
134	134	SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 19
135	135	(a) P
136	136	RESENTATIONAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 20
137	137	the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-21
138	138	pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 22
139	139	for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of Congress, 23
140	140	of a gold medal of appropriate design to the African Amer-24
141	141	icans who served with Union forces during the Civil War, 25
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144	144	•HR 1087 IH
145	145	collectively, in recognition of their bravery and out-1
146	146	standing service during the Civil War. 2
147	147	(b) D
148	148	ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For the purposes of the 3
149	149	award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 4
150	150	Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec-5
151	151	retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 6
152	152	devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-7
153	153	retary. 8
154	154	(c) S
155	155	MITHSONIANINSTITUTION.— 9
156	156	(1) I
157	157	N GENERAL.—Following the award of the 10
158	158	gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 11
159	159	shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 12
160	160	the medal shall be available for display as appro-13
161	161	priate and available for research. 14
162	162	(2) S
163	163	ENSE OF THE CONGRESS .—It is the sense 15
164	164	of Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 16
165	165	make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 17
166	166	available for display elsewhere, particularly at appro-18
167	167	priate locations associated with the United States 19
168	168	Colored Troops. 20
169	169	SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 21
170	170	The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 22
171	171	bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 at 23
172	172	a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 24
173	173	materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 25
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176	176	•HR 1087 IH
177	177	SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 1
178	178	(a) N
179	179	ATIONALMEDALS.—The medals struck pursu-2
180	180	ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 3
181	181	51 of title 31, United States Code. 4
182	182	(b) N
183	183	UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of section 5
184	184	5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 6
185	185	under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 7
186	186	SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 8
187	187	SALE. 9
188	188	(a) A
189	189	UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 10
190	190	authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 11
191	191	Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-12
192	192	essary to pay for the cost of the medals struck under this 13
193	193	Act. 14
194	194	(b) P
195	195	ROCEEDS OFSALE.—Amounts received from the 15
196	196	sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 4 shall be 16
197	197	deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise 17
198	198	Fund. 18
199	199	Æ
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