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W
hen it debuted in 1924, the Huguenot-Walloon half dollar set off a flurry of controversy. Aggravating on a number of counts, it was criticized by civil libertarians as religious propaganda, by constitutionalists as a violation of the First Amendment separating church and state, and by numismatists and other aesthetically-attuned individuals as mediocre artwork. Attacked primarily for its theme, it really isn’t that much different from the Pilgrim half of 1920-21 in that it partly honors religious refugees. Yet the Huguenot-Walloon issue erred most in depicting on its obverse two individuals who were entirely unrelated to the principle event being commemorated—the founding of New Netherland in 1624.
Huguenots and Walloons were really one and the same; Walloon was the name given to Huguenots (French Calvinists) living in southern Belgium. Periodically persecuted in Catholic France and in Holland (then partly ruled by Spain), they sought refuge outside of Europe in the New World. Toward this end, 30 families of Walloons were persuaded by the newly-formed Dutch West India Company to colonize New Netherland. This region was broadly defined as the lands between New France (Canada) and Virginia. They landed in 1624 and created the settlements of New Amsterdam (now New York City) and Fort Orange (now Albany, New York). Forty years later, these lands passed into British rule, remaining under this authority until Americans declared their independence in 1776.
Seeking to honor the 300th anniversary of the arrival of the Walloons, an organization calling itself the Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission approached Congress with a plan to coin commemorative half dollars marking the event. Revenue from the sale of these coins would be used to offset the expense of public celebrations planned for 1924. Objections were raised immediately over this legislation, as the Commission’s Chairman, the Reverend Dr. John Bear Stoudt, was associated with the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, a group which co-sponsored this coin issue. Despite the apparent violation of the doctrine of separation between church and state, Congress was persuaded to pass the Huguenot-Walloon bill on February 26, 1923. It authorized the coining of 300,000 half dollars to commemorate “the settling of New Netherland, the Middle States, in 1624, by Walloons, French and Belgian Huguenots, under the Dutch West India Company.”
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