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History of the penny
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The penny has been in America for centuries, it's a sentimental object for Americans everywhere. However many have debated on whether or not it should be eliminated or continue being made. The penny should be preserved because it is apart of American culture, given to charity, and keeps items cheap.
For instance, the penny is a large part of American culture. The penny has captured many of America’s greatest moments. “...pennies had different images of Lady Liberty on the front… produced two varieties of the Flying Eagle penny… Lincoln penny began production in 1909... ten varieties have been minted (Shelton 2, 3, 4).” This quote shows scenes of America’s greatest moments or accomplishments. Furthermore, the penny has images which display how the country has developed and grown into what it is today.
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Due to most people believing the penny is useless, they are more than happy to give them away to charities who actually need money. For example, a middle school raised over $3,000 in a week by creating a fundraiser which asks for student’s pennies. “if the United States eliminates the penny, charities will suffer because people will pay more at the store and feel they have less to give those in need.” (Source 4) People think pennies are worth little so they have no problem giving their pennies away. Also, charities who receive pennies would lose a large amount of money if pennies were no longer
Between 2001 and 2006, there has been an increase of .6 cents for the reproduction of the penny. This increase displays economic problems that may lead to fatal ones. The penny is composed of 2% copper and 98% zinc. These elements are exponentially in demand causing the price of these materials to skyrocket. Many Americans think the penny is putting our country in jeopardy with financial losses. This meaningless coin is losing money for the mint, and should be abolished.
In 2001 United States Representative Jim Kolbe introduced legislation to Congress to eliminate the penny coin in most transactions. Although this legislation failed, there are still consistent calls to eliminate the penny as the smallest-denomination United States coin. Our nation is founded on passed traditions. Any American can look basically in any place to understand why America has thrived for centuries. Every tradition, sculpture, monument, or artifact gives Americans history about what has occured. The country struggles to destroy any of these long kept traditions. Although some traditions are completely relevant, the use of the penny is of little worth today. Whether the penny is rolling around in your pocket or resting at the
In 2001, United Sates Representative Jim Kolbe proposed a legislation to Congress to dispose the penny coin from the currency of America because of its small impact. Although his legislation failed, most people currently argue about the penny’s existence today. Even though the penny stood as a mark of history, it is useless and should be eliminated from America’s currency.
They must be eliminated, but you might think. Wont prices go up and charities lose money? No. new zealand , finland, and the netherlands stopped using the one cent or the one cent euro and noticed no change in cost instead they round to the nearest five cent. Anyways the US has already gone through this process without trouble like the half cent it was eliminated in 1857 because it was too little worth. Another thing is that everyone loves lincoln so they might think that his monument might be taken away but taking away the penny won't take away his memory we will still have him on our five dollar bill which won't go away. Yes you might think it is unpatriotic or disrespectful to take away lincoln but the us military is not using pennies because they have already realized that pennies are useless and not needed so they round to the nearest five cent. So basically pennies just aren't worth making, they waste people's time and they don't even work as money like they are supposed to, and because of inflammation lose more value every year making them making everything
To begin, United States should not eliminate the penny because the coin has impacted our language by giving us more phrases and words. According to source #4, it states, “The one-cent has influenced our language, giving us a number of idioms, such as ‘a penny for your thoughts’ (a way to ask what someone is thinking) and ‘not one red cent’ (meaning no money at all).” This is significant because it shows that the penny has affected the English language
Have a good look at the penny, what do you see? You probably see nothing but a copper coated circular poor valued cent. Little does everyone know pennies have been around longer than before their grandparents, even their great-grandparents! Matter of fact, it was around so long ago that Abraham Lincoln’s face was not the first design on the penny. I ask that you take the time to consider the American penny’s worth. Without the people’s belief in its value, the penny will be abolished. I see people every day throwing away a penny rather than to put it in their pocket and save it for future uses. Yes a penny is "outdated, almost worthless, bothersome and wasteful" (Safire) piece of junk, but it's has an economic, cultural, and historical significance to the United States of America. The problem is that nobody pays attention to that, and that gives pennies the image of no value. Three good solutions to show the pennies worth include: tolls and vending machines accepting the coin, more charities to keep their penny drives, and historical evidence of what the penny mean to America so that it can be passed on to the future generations.
The Penny is a wonderful coin. It might only be worth one cent but that one cent can help people in all sought's of situations. The penny should kept in circulation. There are many people that use the penny still in today’s society.
We should keep the penny because it has history, in fact it was “the first currency authorized by the United States” (Lewis). The penny no longer has the value that it used to have, but it is still necessary to make purchases as accurate as possible. The penny may seem like a waste of time to many Americans because it takes so long for cashiers to make change, forcing people to wait in line, but it is actually worth the time spent. The penny helps with keeping prices a cent lower, and therefore stimulating the economy. The penny is important to many people who need the money and for whom pennies still have value.
If you check your pockets, how many of you have pennies in them? Not many people I assume, that is because most people don't carry around pennies anymore. Denver Nicks from Time.com says
The penny is so close to worthless that there is a major debate on whether the penny should be kept in circulation. Keeping the penny in circulation would be mostly for those traditionalists who see this coin as history and luck. Many are working very hard to keep that piece of history from meeting its retirement. ALTHOUGH THE PENNY HAS BEEN AROUND THROUGH AN ABUNDANCE OF GENERATIONS; DEPLETING THE NATION OF THIS COIN WOULD BRING LESS HASSLE AND MORE BENEFIT.
Have you ever been in a store and the person in front of the line is holding the line up by having the cashier count pennies. I have been in this situation many times and it gets really frustrating. Although there is a very simple solution to this issue that has occured to many people, and many times, all over the country. And the simple solution that I will bring up today is getting rid of the penny. There are many, many reasons to get rid of the penny and all of them would help the United States of America in the long run. The first reason is that pennies are just not worth it. The second reason is that getting rid of pennies would help the prices go down. The last reason that proves getting rid of the penny would help us is that many other
Pennies have always been respected for having played a big role in american history but does the penny actually deserve to be held in such high regard if it's just collecting dust under the couch. Since 1857, the penny was used and changed throughout the years but it might be a better idea to get rid of the penny because of its expensive production costs and its effect on the economy.
Art is something that appears separately to everyone; there are no clearly defined right or wrong answer with it. American Icons is a beautiful oil painting that is a high work of art, has a lot of symbolism, and has many techniques to enhance the piece. Art can be analyzed much more than most people come to understand, but looking to, and actually, understanding it is one of the most satisfying feelings
For instance, in the article “Abolish the Penny (Source 3)”, it clearly states, “Where do they go? Two-thirds of them immediately drop out of circulation, into piggy banks or –as The Time’s John Tierney noted five years ago –behind chair cushions or at the back of sock drawers next to your old tin-foil ball.” Adding on, many people view the penny as a useless currency, and they even leave it in hidden places around their own home. The reason why pennies are sometimes located in piggy banks or at the back of sock drawers is that citizens see no purpose in obtaining them. In other words, it seems as if the penny has lost its fame and glory ever since other forms of currency have been established, such as quarters, dimes, and dollar bills. As explained by William Safire, quarters and dimes seem to circulate more often than pennies, and pennies “disappear” due to their worthless value and troubles. Specifically, the reign of quarters and dimes has overtaken the significance of pennies, and as time passes by, the term “penny” might not even be mentioned anywhere around the United States. In addition, more people nowadays tend to use quarters and dimes for due change, leaving the penny to become less essential for our needs. As stated in Source 3, the British and French have already abandoned their low-value coins approximately 30 years ago. This demonstrates the probable
But how can we remove minted coins you may ask? The answer would be the same way as before when we removed coins from the mint in the past. From 1793 until 1857, the United States produced the half-cent coin. At the time when the working wage was an average dollar a day, the half-cent was indispensable, but when inflation rose, and the dollar dropped, the half-cent no longer had any usage, which became a chore to sustain. Congress then responded with ceasing operations of the “Liberty Cap half a cent” and sure enough the half-cent was no more. The predicament is now the same in the modern day. The penny is no longer economically viable. Many countries from the likes of Canada, New Zealand, Brazil, Britain all had eliminated their version of the one- and two-penny coins without civil strife or economic devastation. Even the U.S.'s overseas military bases eliminated the penny during the 1980s, due to high transportation costs (The Spruce 1)