At the turn of the 20th century, President Theodore Roosevelt decided to start an effort to beautify American coinage. He hired Augustus St. Gaudens to overhaul American designs. St. Gaudens only lived to finish the double eagle and the Indian Eagle. These two designs are considered by some to be the best designs of their denominations and some of the best of any American coin ever. The double eagle design was voted the best American gold coin design and is currently used on American gold bullion coinage. The original coinage of 1907 had an ultra high relief as the artist intended. However, when the Mint struck some coins, they required repeated striking by the presses, and had more the appearance of medals than coins. One alternative explored by the mint was reducing the diameter of the coin to that of a checker and making it thicker in an attempt to keep the ultra high relief. Some trials were struck, but most were destroyed (except two which were retained in the Mint collection) when it was discovered that consent of Congress was required to change the diameter of any coin. St. Gaudens redesigned the coin for a lower relief, but when some of these "high relief" coins were struck, they would not stack well, and the design was flattened again by St. Gaudens for circulating coins. Some of the high relief coins, though, found their way into circulation. The coins were minted continuously until 1933, except for 1917-19, when no coins were struck.

In 1907 and 1908, a number of eagle and double eagle coins were minted without the motto of "In God We Trust". At that time, the coinage laws did not require the motto, and so St. Gaudens had not been asked to include it. Roosevelt defended the omission as a prevention of a profane use of God's name, but in 1908, Congress passed an act requiring the use of the motto on all denominations of coins on which the motto had previously appeared--including the eagle and double eagle. The reverse of the coin was redesigned to include the motto.