The portrait in left profile of George Washington, the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797, is accompanied with the motto "IN GOD WE TRUST" and the lettering "LIBERTY" and it is surrounded with the face value and the inscription "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"

Young Abraham Lincoln within an outline of the state, a farm scene, and the Chicago skyline on the left and the right of the state's outline. There are twenty-one stars bordering the coin which signify Illinois as the 21st state admitted into the Union.