Recognizing that to adopt Alexander Hamilton’s suggestion of a “gold dollar” would cause confusion and require constant governmental supervision to “regulate * * * Value,” Congress created no such coin, instead mandating the coinage of “EAGLES,” “each to be of the value of ten dollars or units,” that is, of the weight of fine gold equivalent in the marketplace to 371.25 grains of fine silver. 1899.For a more extensive analysis on the significance of this, see What is a “Dollar”?: An Historical Analysis of the Fundamental Question In Monetary Policy Triumphs and Wonders of the 19th Century: The True Mirror of a Phenomenal Era. By the Act of 1853, the lawful weight of the half dollar was lessened to 192 grains, and different divisions of the dollar in extent. The coinage of the fractional parts of the dollar was reserved to the government.īoyd, James P. Under the Acts of 1792, 1834, and 1837 they had been full legal tender. The Act of February 21, 1853, decreased the heaviness of the silver coins of a division under $1, which the Acts of 1792, 1834, and 1837 had made precisely corresponding to the heaviness of the silver dollar, and gave that they ought to be lawful tender to the measure of just $5. The fineness was subsequently changed by this demonstration to 0.900 and the proportion to 1:15.988+. The weight of the gold dollar was settled at 25.8 grains, and its fine weight at 23.22 grains. The Act of January 18, 1837, was passed to make the fineness of the gold and silver coins uniform. The Act of 1834 underestimated silver as that of 1792 had underestimated gold, and silver was pulled in to Europe by the more great proportion of 1:15½. The fine weight of the gold dollar was hence decreased to 23.2 grains. The last demonstration settled the heaviness of the gold dollar at 25.8 grains, yet brought down the fineness from 0.916⅔ to 0.899225. The Act of June 28, 1834, was passed to cure this by changing the mint proportion between the metals to 1:16.002. The Act of 1792 underestimated gold, which was along these lines traded. Both gold and silver were deemed legal tender. The proportion of gold to silver in coinage was 1:15. The coinage was boundless, and there was no mint charge. The bases of the framework were: The gold dollar, containing 24.75 grains of fine gold, and stamped in pieces of $10, $5, and $2.50, designated separately eagles, half-eagles, and quarter-eagles the silver dollar, containing 371.25 grains of unadulterated silver. The Act of Apalso built up the primary monetary system of the United States. It was the first federal building erected under the Constitution. Rittenhouse bought two lots at 7th and Arch Streets to build a three-story facility, the tallest building in Philadelphia at the time. President George Washington appointed a leading scientist, David Rittenhouse, as the first director. This American dollar was never instituted, there not being at the time a mint in the young nation.Ĭongress passed the Coinage Act, establishing the first national mint in the United States, in 1792. Congress chose Philadelphia as the site of the first Mint. Neither of these propositions was conveyed into effect until, in 1786, the Congress of the Confederation picked as the financial unit of the United States the dollar of 375.64 grains of pure silver, which unit had its starting point in the Spanish piaster or milled dollar, at that point the premise of the metallic circulation of the English settlements in America. Jefferson suggested the decimal framework, with the dollar as the unit. In 1782, Robert Morris, Superintendent of Finance, submitted to the Congress of the Confederation a plan for a national coinage and the foundation of an American mint, which met with endorsement. Early American Coinage Acts & Values - 19th Century US Coins & Currency #1
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