Massachusetts
The place where the spark of American independence first blazed. Its reverse features the Minute Man (militiaman) statue.
Massachusetts is a state in the northeastern United States, and its nickname is “The Bay State.” The nickname came from its terrain of bays and harbors; from long ago it was a lively gateway through which people and goods came and went. In the 50 State Quarters series, it was issued in 2000 as the sixth coin (No. 6).
The figure at the center of the coin’s reverse is the “Minute Man” statue. A man holding a rifle stands as if he has just stepped out from working in the fields, engraved together with the outline of the state and the words “The Bay State.”
Minute Man was the name given to the militia around the time of the American Revolutionary War. It refers to the ordinary farmers and citizens who kept themselves ready so that they could take up arms and rush out “within a minute.” Massachusetts is the very place where that Revolutionary War first began, and this statue commemorates the courage of ordinary people who rose up themselves in a moment of crisis.
Massachusetts ratified the U.S. Constitution on February 6, 1788, becoming the sixth state. In that the first step toward independence began on this land, it holds a special place in American history.
Holding the coin and gazing at the Minute Man, you naturally encounter the story that “it was not a handful of heroes but neighbors who ran out from their workplaces who defended the nation.”