Talk about speed.

It was Monday that the District proposed three designs for their personalized quarter, all bearing the slogan “Taxation Without Representation”; Wednesday that the U.S. Mint curtly rejected the designs; and late yesterday that city officials submitted three new design proposals sans the offending voting rights slogan. (Oddly, they remained quiet about the new proposals until late this afternoon, when the announcement was buried in a monthly newsletter sent out by the mayor’s office.)

The design proposals — two of them remained the same, one featuring Benjamin Banneker and another Duke Ellington; a third new design would feature Fredrick Douglass — would bear the official city motto, “Justitia omnibus,” meaning “justice for all.”

Well, that’s that. It’s surprising how quickly this fight came and went — apparently Mayor Fenty didn’t think challenging the U.S. Mint would get us and our cause anywhere. He might be right. But then again, we folded awful quick on this one, not even going so far as to allow any sort of grassroots anger gain momentum. D.C. Shadow Representative Mike Panetta valiantly tried to get a campaign started; Fenty’s move has thrown a good dose of cold water on it.

We suppose the best we can hope for is that the U.S. Mint doesn’t find these new designs “controversial.” After all, demanding justice for all and putting a rabble-rouser like Douglass on a quarter might stir the pot just a little too much.