The program was authorized by the America's Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008 (Pub.

[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] before August 20, 2019 (accidental release)[16](November 10, 1978) before October 29, 2019 (accidental release)[17](July 23, 1980) Of the 56 designs there are Beginning with the El Yunque (Puerto Rico) design in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program, the U.S. Mint began selling (at a premium) uncirculated 40-coin rolls and 100-coin bags of quarters with the San Francisco mint mark.

Direct U.S. Mint sales of rolls and bags of uncirculated business strike coins continued with the 2013 America the Beautiful quarter issues, with actual quantities again determined by customer orders.

The mintages of the uncirculated "S" quarters are considerably lower than that of the "P" and "D" mint-marked coins and are comparable to the 1996-W Roosevelt Dime (also not issued for circulation), which sells in the neighborhood of $20 each in an average grade.

Two million of each of the year's five issues, mixed in bags with the common "P" and "D" coins, were scheduled for distribution at various major cities.

The Mint had insufficient time to strike more before the end of the year owing to initial production difficulties with both America the Beautiful Five Ounce Coin series.

The 2008 legislation gave the Treasury Secretary the option of ordering a second round of 56 national parks quarters by 2018, but Steven Mnuchin did not do so.

However, the reverse was redesigned to feature General Washington crossing the Delaware River, the same theme that was used on the 1999 New Jersey quarter.