Item: i112965

Authentic Medal of:

United States of America
Bicentennial – Council of the Thirteen Original States – William Floyd
1972 Proof Silver Medal 38mm (31.97 grams) Sterling Silver
Reference: Franklin Mint
William Floyd facing 1/2 left in government building.
WILLIAM FLOYD FARMER NEW YORK, Feather pen and ink well, signature below.
Edge Lettering:
OFFICIAL MEDAL OF THE BICENTENNIAL COUNCIL OF THE 13 ORIGINAL STATES 72 P STERLING

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The Thirteen American Colonies formed the United States of America in July 1776. Their groupings were: New England (New Hampshire; Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Connecticut); Middle (New York; New Jersey; Pennsylvania; Delaware); Southern (Maryland; Virginia; North Carolina; South Carolina; and Georgia).

William Floyd (December 17, 1734 – August 4, 1821) was an American politician from New York, delegate to the Continental Congress, and a signer of the Continental Association and the United States Declaration of Independence. He is one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

After his father’s death in 1755, William took over the family farm. He became a member of the Suffolk County Militia in the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, becoming Major General. He was a delegate from New York in the First Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776. He was a member of the New York State Senate (Southern District) from 1777 to 1788.

On July 4, 1787, he was elected an honorary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati. In March 1789, he was elected to the 1st United States Congress under the new Constitution as an Anti-Administration candidate and served until March 3, 1791. Floyd was a presidential elector in 1792, voting for George Washington and George Clinton. Floyd, for whom the town of Floyd, New York, is named, became a resident of Oneida County in 1794.

In 1795, Floyd ran for Lieutenant Governor of New York with Robert Yates on the Democratic-Republican ticket, but they were defeated by Federalists John Jay and Stephen Van Rensselaer. Floyd was again a presidential elector in 1800, voting for Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr; and in 1804, voting for Jefferson and George Clinton. Floyd was a member of the state senate (Western District) in 1808.

In 1820, Floyd was chosen a presidential elector but did not attend the meeting of the electoral college, and Martin Van Buren was appointed to fill the vacancy. In the 1820 Census, when Floyd was 86, he had 6 slaves and 2 free black residents lived in his household at the General William Floyd House in Westernville, New York.

In 1760, Floyd was married to Hannah Jones (1740–1781), who was born in Southampton, New York, and was the daughter of William Jones. Together, they were the parents of:

• Nicoll Floyd (1762–1852), who married Phoebe Gelston (1770–1836), daughter of David Gelston (collector of the Port of New York), in 1789.
• Mary Floyd (1764–1805), who married Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, who was in charge of President George Washington’s spy ring.
• Catherine Floyd (1767–1832), who married Reverend William Clarkson (1763–1812).

After the death of his first wife in 1781, Floyd remarried to Joanna Strong (1747–1826), who was born in Setauket, New York, and was the daughter of Benajah Strong and Martha (née Mills) Strong. Together, they were the parents of:

• Ann Floyd (1785–1857), who married George Washington Clinton (1771–1809), son of George Clinton, the first Governor of New York and the fourth Vice President of the United States.
• Elizabeth Floyd (1789–1820), who married James Platt (1788–1870), youngest son of Continental Congressmen Zephaniah Platt.

The William Floyd House, the family home, is located in Mastic Beach, is part of Fire Island National Seashore and is open to visitors. It consists of the home, grounds and a cemetery of the Floyd family. Over the course of 200 years, eight generations of Floyds have managed the 25-room mansion and 613-acre property. Prior to the 20th century, the estate was much larger.

Through his son Nicoll, he was a grandfather of U.S. Representative John Gelston Floyd, and Mary Floyd, who married John Lawrence Ireland (grandson of New York State Senator Jonathan Lawrence). Through his daughter Catherine, he was the grandfather of Harriet Ashton (née Clarkson) Crosby (1786–1859), and great-grandfather of New York State Senator Clarkson Floyd Crosby, who married Angelica Schuyler, daughter of John Schuyler.

Floyd died on August 4, 1821, and is buried at the Westernville Cemetery in Oneida County. His widow died in 1826.

There are several places named after William Floyd, including:

• William Floyd School District in present-day Brookhaven Town, which includes William Floyd Elementary, William Floyd middle school, and William Floyd High School.
• William Floyd Parkway in the Town of Brookhaven.
• Town of Floyd in Oneida County.
• General William Floyd Elementary School in the Holland Patent School District in Oneida County
• Floyd Memorial Library in Greenport, Suffolk County, New York

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million km²), the United States is the world’s third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe’s 3.9 million square miles (10.1 million km²). With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital’s federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world’s 17 megadiverse countries.

Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century. The United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, and the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776. The war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. The United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, and gradually admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848.

During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery. By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, and its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish-American War and World War I confirmed the country’s status as a global military power. The United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The Rights Acts of 1964, 1965 and 1968 outlaws discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U.S. Moon landing. The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world’s sole superpower.

The United States is the world’s oldest surviving federation. It is a federal republic and a representative democracy. The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States (OAS), and other international organizations. The United States is a highly developed country, with the world’s largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for approximately a quarter of global GDP. The U.S. economy is largely post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world’s largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U.S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country.

Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank very high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, and worker productivity. The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, and is a leading political, cultural, and scientific force internationally.