| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 1277 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the First Rhode Island |
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| 6 | 6 | | Regiment, in recognition of their dedicated service during the Revolu- |
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| 7 | 7 | | tionary War. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | FEBRUARY13, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. A |
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| 11 | 11 | | MO(for himself, Mr. MAGAZINER, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. CARTERof Lou- |
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| 12 | 12 | | isiana, Ms. C |
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| 13 | 13 | | LARKEof New York, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. COHEN, Mr. |
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| 14 | 14 | | C |
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| 15 | 15 | | OSTA, Mr. DAVISof North Carolina, Mr. FIGURES, Mr. GREENof |
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| 16 | 16 | | Texas, Mr. J |
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| 17 | 17 | | ACKSONof Illinois, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia, Ms. KELLY |
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| 18 | 18 | | of Illinois, Mrs. M |
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| 19 | 19 | | CBATH, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mrs. MCIVER, Mr. MFUME, |
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| 20 | 20 | | Ms. M |
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| 21 | 21 | | OOREof Wisconsin, Mr. MOULTON, Ms. NORTON, Ms. PLASKETT, |
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| 22 | 22 | | Ms. S |
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| 23 | 23 | | CHAKOWSKY, Ms. SEWELL, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mr. TURNERof |
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| 24 | 24 | | Texas, Ms. U |
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| 25 | 25 | | NDERWOOD, Mr. VEASEY, Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN, and Ms. |
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| 26 | 26 | | W |
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| 27 | 27 | | ILLIAMSof Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred |
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| 28 | 28 | | to the Committee on Financial Services |
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| 29 | 29 | | A BILL |
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| 30 | 30 | | To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the |
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| 31 | 31 | | First Rhode Island Regiment, in recognition of their |
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| 32 | 32 | | dedicated service during the Revolutionary War. |
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| 33 | 33 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 34 | 34 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 35 | 35 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 36 | 36 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘First Rhode Island 4 |
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| 37 | 37 | | Regiment Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 5 |
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| 39 | 39 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 40 | 40 | | •HR 1277 IH |
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| 41 | 41 | | SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 |
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| 42 | 42 | | Congress finds the following: 2 |
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| 43 | 43 | | (1) During the winter at Valley Forge, from 3 |
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| 44 | 44 | | 1777–1778, the Continental Army had difficulty re-4 |
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| 45 | 45 | | cruiting the necessary quotas of men set by the Con-5 |
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| 46 | 46 | | gress. 6 |
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| 47 | 47 | | (2) At the same time, the State of Rhode Island 7 |
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| 48 | 48 | | was ordered to supply two battalions while faced 8 |
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| 49 | 49 | | with the occupation of the City of Newport by the 9 |
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| 50 | 50 | | British. 10 |
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| 51 | 51 | | (3) In January 1778, at the urging of Brigadier 11 |
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| 52 | 52 | | General James Varnum, General George Washington 12 |
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| 53 | 53 | | wrote to Governor Nicholas Cooke of the State of 13 |
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| 54 | 54 | | Rhode Island requesting assistance recruiting men 14 |
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| 55 | 55 | | for the Continental Line. 15 |
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| 56 | 56 | | (4) On February 14, 1778, the Rhode Island 16 |
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| 57 | 57 | | General Assembly voted to allow the enlistment of 17 |
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| 58 | 58 | | ‘‘every able-bodied negro, mulatto, or Indian man 18 |
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| 59 | 59 | | slave’’. 19 |
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| 60 | 60 | | (5) In addition, the Rhode Island General As-20 |
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| 61 | 61 | | sembly provided that any enlisted slave ‘‘upon his 21 |
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| 62 | 62 | | passing muster before Colonel Christopher Greene, 22 |
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| 63 | 63 | | be immediately discharged from the service of his 23 |
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| 64 | 64 | | master or mistress, and be absolutely free as though 24 |
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| 65 | 65 | | he had never been incumbered and be incumbered 25 |
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| 66 | 66 | | with any kind of servitude or slavery’’. 26 |
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| 69 | 69 | | •HR 1277 IH |
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| 70 | 70 | | (6) As a result, between February 1778 and 1 |
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| 71 | 71 | | June 1778, Colonel Christopher Greene, Lt. Colonel 2 |
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| 72 | 72 | | Jeremiah Olney and Major Samuel Ward recruited 3 |
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| 73 | 73 | | almost 200 men of African heritage and Indigenous 4 |
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| 74 | 74 | | descent who formed the core of the First Rhode Is-5 |
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| 75 | 75 | | land Regiment. 6 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (7) The First Rhode Island Regiment became 7 |
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| 77 | 77 | | among the first units in American History in which 8 |
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| 78 | 78 | | men of every race and ethnicity were recruited to 9 |
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| 79 | 79 | | serve. 10 |
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| 80 | 80 | | (8) On August 28, 1778, at the Battle of 11 |
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| 81 | 81 | | Rhode Island, following an attempted siege of Brit-12 |
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| 82 | 82 | | ish-occupied Newport along with the newly allied 13 |
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| 83 | 83 | | French fleet, the First Rhode Island Regiment acted 14 |
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| 84 | 84 | | heroically in holding back Hessian forces and caus-15 |
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| 85 | 85 | | ing them to retreat. 16 |
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| 86 | 86 | | (9) During the Battle of Rhode Island, the 17 |
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| 87 | 87 | | First Rhode Island Regiment’s losses included three 18 |
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| 88 | 88 | | killed, nine wounded and eleven missing soldiers. 19 |
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| 89 | 89 | | (10) Soldiers of color from the First Rhode Is-20 |
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| 90 | 90 | | land Regiment continued to fight bravely to win 21 |
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| 91 | 91 | | American independence for 5 more years in an inte-22 |
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| 92 | 92 | | grated Rhode Island Regiment that included men of 23 |
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| 93 | 93 | | African, European, and Indigenous descent. 24 |
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| 95 | 95 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
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| 96 | 96 | | •HR 1277 IH |
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| 97 | 97 | | (11) On December 25, 1783, the last Rhode Is-1 |
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| 98 | 98 | | land soldiers were discharged at Saratoga, New 2 |
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| 99 | 99 | | York. 3 |
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| 100 | 100 | | (12) Their commander, Colonel Jeremiah 4 |
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| 101 | 101 | | Olney, praised the Regiment for ‘‘faithfully pre-5 |
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| 102 | 102 | | serving in the best of causes, in every stage of serv-6 |
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| 103 | 103 | | ice, with unexampled fortitude and patience through 7 |
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| 104 | 104 | | all the danger and toils of a long and severe war’’. 8 |
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| 105 | 105 | | (13) Afterwards, some veterans of the First 9 |
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| 106 | 106 | | Rhode Island Regiment had to consistently resist ef-10 |
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| 107 | 107 | | forts at re-enslavement and fought for back wages 11 |
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| 108 | 108 | | from the Rhode Island General Assembly. 12 |
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| 109 | 109 | | (14) According to the Rhode Island State Ar-13 |
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| 110 | 110 | | chives, the First Rhode Island Regiment included at 14 |
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| 111 | 111 | | least the following soldiers: Babcock, Priamus (Pri-15 |
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| 112 | 112 | | mus); Bent, Prince; Bours, Cato; Brown, Priamus 16 |
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| 113 | 113 | | (Primus); Burk, Africa; Burroughs, John; Car-17 |
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| 114 | 114 | | penter, Cudgo; Champlin, Dick; Champlin, Jack; 18 |
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| 115 | 115 | | Champlin, July; Champlin, Newport; Champlin, 19 |
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| 116 | 116 | | Sharper; Champlin, York; Clark, James; 20 |
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| 117 | 117 | | Coddington, Jack; Fones, Jack; Gardner, Cuff; 21 |
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| 118 | 118 | | Gardner, Hercules; Gardner, Minkl; Gardner, 22 |
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| 119 | 119 | | Preamus (Primus); Gardner, Rutter; Gray, Ebe-23 |
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| 120 | 120 | | nezer; Green, Cuff; Greene, Cato; Greene, Jack; 24 |
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| 121 | 121 | | Greene, Pero; Greene, William; Hammond, Prince; 25 |
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| 124 | 124 | | •HR 1277 IH |
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| 125 | 125 | | Harriss, Cesar; Hazard, Backus; Hazard, Jabin; 1 |
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| 126 | 126 | | Hazard, Jacob; Hazard, Peter; Hazard, Peter; 2 |
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| 127 | 127 | | Lefavour, Thom; Mason, Warsen; Mawney, Cyrus; 3 |
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| 128 | 128 | | Minturn, Jack; Mowrey, Pero; Nichols, Thomas; 4 |
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| 129 | 129 | | Perry, Ganset; Phillips, Philow; Pierce, Titus; Pot-5 |
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| 130 | 130 | | ter, David; Randall, Prince; Rhodes, Bristol; Rhodes, 6 |
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| 131 | 131 | | Priamus; Rhodes, Richard; Rhodes, Samuel; Rich-7 |
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| 132 | 132 | | mond, Ebenezer; Robinson, Mingo; Rodman, Isaac; 8 |
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| 133 | 133 | | Rodman, Mingo; Rodman, Prince; Rose, Cesar; 9 |
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| 134 | 134 | | Saltonstall, Brittain; Saunders, Sampson; Sheldon, 10 |
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| 135 | 135 | | Cesar; Slave; Slave; Smith, Juba; Sweeling, Query; 11 |
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| 136 | 136 | | Talbot, Sigby; Tanner, Quam; Tillinghast, Cuff; 12 |
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| 137 | 137 | | Updike, Cesar; Updike, Moses; Vaughan, Prince; 13 |
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| 138 | 138 | | Vernon, Cato; Watson, Fortune; Wells, Cesar; 14 |
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| 139 | 139 | | Wickes, Nat; and Willbour, Boston. 15 |
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| 140 | 140 | | SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 16 |
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| 141 | 141 | | (a) A |
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| 142 | 142 | | WARDAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 17 |
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| 143 | 143 | | House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 18 |
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| 144 | 144 | | of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 19 |
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| 145 | 145 | | award, on behalf of the Congress, of a single gold medal 20 |
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| 146 | 146 | | of appropriate design to the First Rhode Island Regiment, 21 |
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| 147 | 147 | | collectively in recognition of their dedicated service during 22 |
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| 148 | 148 | | the Revolutionary War. 23 |
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| 149 | 149 | | (b) D |
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| 150 | 150 | | ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For the purposes of the 24 |
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| 151 | 151 | | award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 25 |
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| 154 | 154 | | •HR 1277 IH |
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| 155 | 155 | | Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec-1 |
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| 156 | 156 | | retary’’) shall strike the gold medal with suitable emblems, 2 |
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| 157 | 157 | | devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-3 |
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| 158 | 158 | | retary. 4 |
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| 159 | 159 | | (c) R |
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| 160 | 160 | | HODEISLANDSTATELIBRARY.— 5 |
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| 161 | 161 | | (1) I |
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| 162 | 162 | | N GENERAL.—Following the award of the 6 |
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| 163 | 163 | | gold medal in honor of the First Rhode Island Regi-7 |
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| 164 | 164 | | ment of the Revolutionary War under subsection (a), 8 |
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| 165 | 165 | | the gold medal shall be given to the Rhode Island 9 |
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| 166 | 166 | | State Library, where it will be displayed as appro-10 |
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| 167 | 167 | | priate and made available for research. 11 |
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| 168 | 168 | | (2) S |
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| 169 | 169 | | ENSE OF CONGRESS .—It is the sense of 12 |
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| 170 | 170 | | Congress that the Rhode Island State Library 13 |
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| 171 | 171 | | should make the gold medal received under para-14 |
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| 172 | 172 | | graph (1) available for display elsewhere, particu-15 |
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| 173 | 173 | | larly at other appropriate locations associated with 16 |
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| 174 | 174 | | the First Rhode Island Regiment of the Revolu-17 |
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| 175 | 175 | | tionary War. 18 |
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| 176 | 176 | | SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 19 |
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| 177 | 177 | | The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 20 |
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| 178 | 178 | | bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3, at a price 21 |
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| 179 | 179 | | sufficient to cover the costs thereof, including labor, mate-22 |
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| 180 | 180 | | rials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 23 |
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| 183 | 183 | | •HR 1277 IH |
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| 184 | 184 | | SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 1 |
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| 185 | 185 | | (a) N |
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| 186 | 186 | | ATIONALMEDALS.—Medals struck pursuant to 2 |
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| 187 | 187 | | this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 3 |
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| 188 | 188 | | of title 31, United States Code. 4 |
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| 189 | 189 | | (b) N |
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| 190 | 190 | | UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 5 |
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| 191 | 191 | | 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 6 |
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| 192 | 192 | | struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 7 |
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| 193 | 193 | | items. 8 |
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| 194 | 194 | | SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 9 |
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| 195 | 195 | | SALE. 10 |
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| 196 | 196 | | (a) A |
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| 197 | 197 | | UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 11 |
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| 198 | 198 | | authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 12 |
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| 199 | 199 | | Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-13 |
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| 200 | 200 | | essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 14 |
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| 201 | 201 | | this Act. 15 |
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| 202 | 202 | | (b) P |
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| 203 | 203 | | ROCEEDS OFSALE.—Amounts received from the 16 |
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| 204 | 204 | | sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 17 |
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| 205 | 205 | | 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 18 |
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| 206 | 206 | | Enterprise Fund. 19 |
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| 207 | 207 | | Æ |
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