Profile of Sacagawea with her infant son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau being carried on her back.

Sacagawea (1788-1812) was a Lemhi Shoshone woman who helped the Lewis and Clark Expedition achieve each of its chartered mission objectives exploring the Louisiana Purchase. With the expedition, between 1804 and 1806, she traveled thousands of miles from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean, established cultural contacts with Native American populations, and researched natural history.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the first American expedition to cross what is now the western portion of the United States, departing in May 1804, from near St. Louis making their way westward through the continental divide to the Pacific coast.

Engraver: Glenna Goodacre (GG)

An image of the Hiawatha Belt with 5 arrows bound together, along with the inscriptions.

This belt is a national belt of the Haudenosaunee (which means "They Are Building a Long House"), also known as the Iroquois Confederacy of upstate New York. The belt is named after Hiawatha, the Peacemaker’s helper, who spent years preaching the need for a league. The Peacemaker sealed the treaty by symbolically burying weapons at the foot of a Great White Pine, or Great Tree of Peace.

The Hiawatha Belt is a visual record of the creation of the Haudenosaunee dating back to the early 1400s, with 5 symbols representing the 5 original Nations. The Haudenosaunee symbol, the Great White Pine, is the central figure on the belt, also representing the Onondaga Nation. The four square symbols on the belt represent the Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga and Seneca nations. The bundle of 5 arrows symbolizes strength in unity for the Iroquois Confederacy.

Northern European settlers from France, England and the Netherlands interacted with the Haudenosaunee as a separate diplomatic power.

An inscription Great Law of Peace (an English translation of Gayanashagowa, the Iroquois Confederacy constitution). The Great Law of Peace was used as a model for the Constitution of the United States.

Designer: Thomas Cleveland (TC)
Engraver: Charles L. Vickers (CLV).

Inscribed along the edge of the coin is the year of minting or issuance of the coin, the mint mark, and also the legend "E Pluribus Unum" (Latin for "Out of many, one").

Position A: edge lettering reads upside-down when Sacagawea's portrait (obverse) faces up.
Position B: edge lettering reads normally when Sacagawea's portrait (obverse) faces up.