Coinage Act of 1873

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Coinage Act of 1873

TheCoinage Act of 1873orMint Act of 1873,17 Stat.

424, was a general revision of the laws relating to the Mint

of the United States. In abolishing the right of holders of

silver bullion to have their metal struck into fully legal ten-

der dollar coins, itended bimetallism in the United States,

placing the nation firmly on the gold standard. Because

of this, the act became contentious in later years, and was

denounced by people who wanted inflation as the "Crime

of '73".

By 1869, the Mint Act of 1837 was deemed outdated,

and Treasury Secretary George Boutwell had DeputyComptroller of the Currency John Jay Knox undertake

a draft of a revised law, which was introduced into

Congress by Ohio Senator John Sherman. Due to the

high price of silver, little of that metal was presented at

the Mint, but Knox and others foresaw that development

of theComstock Lodeand other rich silver-mining areas

would lower the price, causing large quantities of silver

dollars to be struck and the gold standard to be endan-

gered. During the almost three years the bill was pending

before Congress, it was rarely mentioned that it would end

bimetallism, though this was not concealed. Congress-

men instead debated other provisions. The legislation,in addition to ending the production of the silver dollar,

abolished three low-denomination coins. The bill became

the Act of February 12, 1873, with the signature of Pres-

identUlysses S. Grant.

When silver prices dropped in 1876, producers sought to

have their bullion struck at the Mint, only to learn that

this was no longer possible. The matter became a ma-

jor political controversy that lasted the remainder of the

century, pitting those who valued the deflationary gold

standard against those who believedfree coinage of sil-

verto be necessary for economic prosperity. Accusations

were made that the passage of the act had been securedthrough corruption, though there is little evidence of this.

The gold standard was explicitly enacted into law in 1900,

and was completely abandoned by the U.S. in 1971.

1 Background

TheMint Act of 1792established theMint of the United

States. The Mint, in its first decades, only coined gold

and silver in response to deposits of that metal by citizens,

returning the bullion to the depositor in the form of coins.

Either gold or silver could be presented for conversioninto currency, as both metals were alegal tender, a dollar

was equal to a legally defined amount of silver, or a legally

defined amount of gold. Having a currency be defined in

terms of two different metals is calledbimetallism. Such

a system may experience instability as the price of gold

and silver on the world market changes. At that time,

gold or silver U.S. coins were rarely seen in the nation, as

they were heavily exported because of such shiftsmost

pieces in circulation were foreign in origin.[1][2]

In 1834, Congress made a dollar worth slightly less, thus

lightening U.S. gold and silver coins (known collectively

as specie), making them uneconomical to export, and

they were seen more often in commerce within the U.S.[3]

With this greater circulation, Congress re-examined the

existing statutes relating to the Mint, and found many pro-

visions to be obsolete. It enacted theMint Act of 1837,

a thorough revision of the statutes relating to the Mint.

New provisions included the establishment of a bullion

fund, allowing depositors to be paid without waiting for

their metal to go through the coining process. The ratio of

value between equivalent weights of gold and silver was

adjusted slightly, allowing coins of both metals to circu-

late within the U.S.[4]

Under an 1853 act, depositors could no longer have their metal

struck into half dollars.

When silver prices rose relative to gold as a reaction to

theCalifornia Gold Rush, silver coinage was worth more

than face value, and rapidly flowed overseas for melting.

Despite vocal opposition led by Tennessee Representa-

tive (and future president)Andrew Johnson, the precious

metal content of smaller silver coins was reduced in 1853,

allowing them to circulate. Until then, depositors of silver

could choose to have their bullion struck into silver coins

of any denomination of five cents or above; the 1853 act

lightened the silver coins from the half dimeto thehalf

dollar and eliminated the right of the depositor to have

silver struck into those denominations. Depositors could

still choose to have silver struck intodollar coins, but thehigh price of silver made it more profitable to use the

bullion in other ways. So long as silver prices remained

1
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2 2 INCEPTION

high, this effectively placed the United States on thegold

standard.[2]

Although the Mint rarely received deposits of silver for

striking into coins, it purchased silver bullion using the

new lightweight silver coins at above-market prices. This

practice was illegal, as Congress had ordered that the newlightweight coins only be purchasable using gold, a pro-

vision intended to limit quantities sold to actual demand.

As the silver pieces had a legal tender limit of $5, if ex-

cessive numbers were circulated, they might choke com-

merce. This in fact occurred, and merchants and bankers

complained that the legal tender limit was causing them

to have to sell accumulations at a discount to brokers.[5]

The glut was replaced with a shortage when most federal

coins were hoarded amid the economic chaos of theCivil

War. Slowest to vanish was the base-metalcent, which

only had value because government said it did, and at that

time, confidence in the government was shaken. Even-tually, it too vanished from circulation and commanded

a premium for change[6][7] A variety of makeshifts re-

placed the vanished coins, such as fractional currency

andmerchants tokens.[8] Beginning in 1864, Congress

began to authorize base metal coins that would not be

hoarded. It reduced the weight of the cent, causing it to

be made of bronze, and also required a two-cent piece

of the same metal.[9] The following year saw the ini-

tiation of the three-cent nickel and in 1866, the five-

cent nickel (today simply known as the nickel) began

production.[10] The two-cent piece, initially popular, saw

declining mintages as the public preferred the smaller,

more convenient nickel[lower-alpha 1 ] coins.[11]

Greenbacks, which were backed by neither silver nor gold

but by the credit of the United States, and which were ne-

cessitated by vast wartime expenditures, had helped to fi-

nance the war.[12] In the late 1860s, politicians disagreed

about how quickly to have the government resume paying

out gold and silver in payment of its obligations. Treasury

SecretaryHugh McCullochfelt the best way to return to

that practice was to withdraw the greenbacks as quickly as

possible, and he did so until stopped by Congress, which

felt his contractionist stand was hurting the economy.[13]

More and more silver was being mined in the Far West.

Falls in the price of the metal made the option of deposit-ing silver at the Mint in exchange for coin more attrac-

tive, and mintages of the silver dollar rose considerably

in the late 1860s and into the 1870s. The silver dollar

was fully legal tender, and some officials worried that the

increased deposits would cause silver to drive gold from

circulation as predicted byGreshams Law, endangering

the gold standard.[14]

Since it had been two decades since much silver was reg-

ularly deposited for striking into coins, the fact that the

United States had been on a bimetallic standard since

1792 was often forgotten. The gold standard was seen

as the only possible choice, and many people assumedthat the United States was on that standard, which had

been adopted by strong nations like theUnited Kingdom

(1816) and theGerman Empire(1871).[15]

2 Inception

John Jay Knox, photographed byMathew Brady

Losses of nearly $250,000 at theSan Francisco Minthad

concerned the Treasury,[16] and, in 1866, McCullough

sent John Jay Knox, a Treasury employee, on a special

investigatory mission.[17] Knox found that informalities

in transferring bullion between various officers of that

mint had led to inconsistent sets of accounts, but due to

the lack of receipts kept, it was not possible to pinpoint

who was to blame.[16] In 1869, Knox, by then Deputy

Comptroller of the Currency, was sent by McCulloughs

successor George Boutwellto investigate other Mint fa-

cilities, discovering severe irregularities and large govern-

ment losses at the New YorkAssay Office. Knox againdiscovered a dearth of proper accounting procedures, and

that officials there had trouble finding a copy of the Mints

regulations.[16]

In 1867, aninternational monetary conferencewas held

in Paris to discuss how to have gold coins of various

countries struck to a common standard. Slight adjust-

ments to the British goldsovereignand to the five-dollar

gold piece (orhalf eagle) would make each equal to 25

francs, and it was proposed that the British and Ameri-

cans make those changes while France began striking a

25-franc piece. None of this ever came to fruition, but

in January 1868, Ohio SenatorJohn Shermanintroducedlegislation to place the United States formally on the gold

standard, to eliminate silver as a legal tender, and to im-
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3

plement the recommendations of the conference.[18]

Knox, in his 1866 report, had recommended a thorough

revision of the laws pertaining to the Mint, and in Jan-

uary 1870, Secretary Boutwell instructed him to prepare

a draft. In this, Knox had the assistance of former Mint

Director Henry Linderman,

[19][20]

who then held a rov-ing commission for the Treasury Department; Linderman

would in 1873 become the first director of the Bureau of

the Mint.[21]

Knox completed a draft bill, intended to repeal many

antiquated legal provisions, and to rewrite others. He

proposed to eliminate the standard silver dollar (he pro-

posed a lightweight silver dollar that would have a low

legal tender limit), move the office of the Director of

the Mint from Philadelphia to Washington, eliminate the

Mints charge to strike gold bullion (then .5 percent), and

abolish the office of Treasurer at the mints and assay of-

fices, transferring its functions to the superintendent.

[22]

In drafting the bill, Knox consulted with a number of for-

mer Mint officers besides Linderman, such as former di-

rectorsJames Ross SnowdenandRobert M. Patterson, as

well as former Philadelphia Mint Chief CoinerFranklin

Peale. Mint DirectorJames Pollardsubmitted the bill to

Congress on April 25, 1870.[20]

3 Consideration and passage

SenatorJohn Shermanshepherded the bill through Congress.

Sherman introduced the bill on April 28, 1870, and it

was referred to theSenate Finance Committee, of which

he was chairman.[23] He did not seek its passage in that

session of Congress, as lawmakers were busy with other

financial legislation.[24] The bill attracted next to no news-paper attention throughout the period of almost three

years it was under consideration, though monetary ex-

perts and others watched its progress closely.[25] On Jan-

uary 9, 1871, Sherman brought the bill to the Senate floor

for debate. That it abolished the silver dollar, and thus

bimetallism, was not discussed, as senators focused on

the omission of the coinage charge (the fee for the Mints

services in converting bullion to money). This was of

importance to the Senateespecially members from theFar Westbecause it affected what mining companies

and refiners (an important economic interest) could get

for their product.[26] Sherman offered an amendment to

retain the coinage charge, but it was attacked by West-

ern senators as an unjust tax on miners and refiners of

gold, and the amendment was defeated, 2623. On Jan-

uary 10, the bill passed the Senate, 3614, with Sher-

man voting against his own bill.[27] It was then sent to the

House of Representatives and referred to the Committee

on Coinage, Weights, and Measures from which it was

briefly brought forth on February 25 by Pennsylvanias

William D. Kelley, the chairman, before being recom-mitted to committee.[28] The bill was not considered by

the House during the remainder of the 41st Congress,

which expired on March 3, 1871, and the Senate-passed

bill died with it.[29]

Kelley reintroduced the bill in the House when Congress

reconvened in December 1871.[30] Chairman Kelley was

from Philadelphia, and was influenced by industrialist

Joseph Wharton, who owned a nickel refinery in nearby

Camden, New Jersey, from which the Mint purchased,

without competitive bidding, much of the metal for the

three-cent and five-cent base metal coins. The bill at

that time proposed that the cent, then made of bronze,be made of nickel alloy as wellwhen it was debated on

January 9, 1872, Whartons interest was an immediate

target.[31] Kelley was quizzed by New York Representa-

tive Clarkson Potter, who called the bill this Pennsyl-

vania contrivance which would give a monopoly to the

gentleman in Pennsylvania [Wharton].[28] Another New

Yorker, Dwight Townsend, moved to scuttle the bill in

disgust over how long it was taking to pass; his motion

on voice vote would have succeeded, but there was no

quorum and it failed on a roll call vote.[32] On January 10,

Missouri CongressmanJames R. McCormick, who rep-

resented nickel producers in his home state, introduced an

amendment for competitive bidding for nickel purchasesby the Mint.[28] Rather than accede to McCormicks

amendment, Kelley sent the bill back to committee.[33]

When the bill was brought back to the House floor on

April 9, 1872, it was managed by Massachusetts Repre-

sentativeSamuel Hooper, chairman of theHouse Com-

mittee on Banking and Currency. He went through the

bill section by section, and stated the bill would place the

United States on the gold standard. In the ensuing de-

bate, other representatives, including Potter and Kelley,

showed their understanding of that. The bill now pro-

vided for competitive nickel bidding, but was again with-

drawn, this time by Hooper, after Kelley accused Potterof trying to benefit New York bullion merchants. This
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4 3 CONSIDERATION AND PASSAGE

fracas caused other New Yorkers to oppose the bill.[34]

On May 27, Hooper presented a substitute bill, which he

got passed, 11013, without it even being read. Among

the changes that the House made to Knoxs bill were a

slight increase in weight of the subsidiary[lower-alpha 2] sil-

ver coins (thedime,quarter dollar, and half dollar), mak-

ing a dollar in them weigh 25 grams (0.88 oz).[35][36]

The bill then awaited Congress reconvening in December.

Early in that month, Secretary Boutwell issued his annual

report, calling for the passage of the legislation. On the

16th, the bill was referred to Shermans committee. It

emerged without the plan to make the cent from copper-

nickel, and with the lightweight silver dollar[lower-alpha 3]

replaced with aTrade dollarintended for commerce in

the Far East, having limited legal tender status in the U.S.

The bill was reported back to the Senate on January 7,

1873.[37][38] It was debated there on the 17th.[39]

One topic of discussion was the bills requirement thatan eagle appear on larger U.S. coins. Linderman had

requested an amendment to require that gold and silver

coins bear a statement of their weight and fineness, which

would mean sacrificing the eagle. Californias Eugene

Casserlyopposed the amendment, which was sponsored

by Sherman, stating it will hardly be possible to think of

a half dollar or a quarter dollar as being such a coin with-

out the eagle upon it.[40] The eagle was saved when the

amendment failed, 24 in favor and 26 against. Casserly

was less successful with an amendment to remove en-

tirely the reduced coinage change of .2 percent, which

failed.[40] Sherman moved the bill along as quickly as he

could, and it passed without a recorded vote. The Houseinitially refused to agree to the Trade dollar; representa-

tives of both houses, led by Sherman and Potter, met in a

conference committee, and the House acceded to the Sen-

ate amendment for the Trade dollar.[39][41] Thebill passed

both houses without further debate, and was signed by

PresidentUlysses S. Granton February 12, 1873.[42] At

no point in its almost three-year journey through the leg-

islative process did the bill provide for the retention of the

standard silver dollar, into which depositors could have

their bullion coined.[43]

3.1 Intent of the bills authors

The standardsilver dollarwas abolished by the Coinage Act of

1873.

When, several years after its passage, the 1873 law be-

came a political issue, some of those involved in enacting

it, including Sherman and Linderman, stated that there

had been no intent to end bimetallism in the elimination

of the authority for private citizens to have silver bullion

coined into dollars. They argued that the 1853 legisla-

tion had ended the practice of having bullion struck intosmaller-denomination coins; the 1873 act simply rectified

an omission and eliminated a coin with a low mintage that

did not circulate.[44] They were not always consistent in

their denials: Boutwell wrote in his memoirs that in 1873

I had come to believe that it was wise for every nation to

recognize, establish, and maintain the gold standard ...

hence it was that I determined to abandon the idea of a

double [i.e., bimetallic] standard.[45]

Within a few years, the idea that the omission of the sil-

ver dollar from the Coinage Act had not been with intent

to place the United States on the gold standard became

the establishment position. Part of this was in reactionagainst the conspiracy theories that were circulating about

the Crime of '73, as advocates of bimetallism called

the act. This was accepted by many historians well into

the 20th century.[46] Neil Carothers, in his 1930 history

of small-denomination U.S. currency, wrote that many

others have demonstrated that this was not a corrupt or

surreptitious action by the enemies of silver. The elimi-

nation of the standard silver dollar was simply in the inter-

ests of clarifying the coinage law ... Not one party to the

passage of the law of 1873 recognized the significance of

the abolition of the legally existing double standard. [47]

According to historianAllen Weinstein, Silvers demon-etization, according to the traditional account, came as

an unplanned if fortunate by-product of a complex and

largely technical revision of the mint laws in the Coinage

Act of 1873.[48]

Economist Milton Friedman wrote, what is not open

to question is that the standard silver dollar was omit-

ted from the list of coins to be minted intentionally, in

full knowledge of the likely consequences, and in the be-

lief that those consequences were desirable.[49] He cited

Walter T. K. Nugents 1968 book,Money and American

Society, 18651880,

as Nugent documents in great detail, Sena-

tor John Sherman, chairman of the Senate Fi-

nance Committee, had been determined to de-

monetize silver from at least 1867 and had ar-

ranged to have a bill to that effect drafted at the

end of 1869. From then on, Sherman, Linder-

man, John Jay Knox (deputy comptroller of the

currency and then comptroller), and Secretary

of the Treasury George Boutwell cooperated to

push a coinage bill that included the demoniti-

zation of silver.[49]

Knox and Linderman were both personally familiar with

mining conditions in the Far West. They knew that the
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Friedmanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Weinsteinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seated_Liberty_dollarhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_S._Granthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conference_committeehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Casserlyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Casserlyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_dollarhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_(United_States_coin)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dime_(United_States_coin)


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4.2 Coins and deposit of bullion (1339) 5

amount of bullion produced was only going to increase,

and would likely drop the price of silver below the level

($1.2929 per troy ounce) at which the metal in a sil-

ver dollar was worth more as bullion than as money. In

his explanatory statement accompanying his draft bill,

Knox explained the discontinuance of the silver dollar

would mean the United States was no longer a bimetal-lic nation.[50][51] Boutwell, in his 1872 annual report,

urged Congress to end the coinage of silver from pri-

vate deposits, lest the government take a loss from pay-

ing out gold in exchange for the silver dollars, and ul-

timately having to melt them when they could not be

circulated.[52] According to Nugent, Were Knox, Lin-

derman, Boutwell, Sherman, and others aware of what

they were doing when they planned to drop the silver

dollar? It is inconceivable that they were not; Knoxs

statement was explicit. But did they urge it because they

feared a drop in silver prices? No one made an ex-

plicit statement to that effect, but it was undoubtedly thecase.[53]

4 Provisions

4.1 Bureau of the Mint; duties of officers

(112)

Text of the Coinage Act of 1873

The Director of the Mint had always been located at the

Philadelphia Mint, with the other mints and assay officesgoverned by superintendents of whom the director was in

charge.[21] The 1873 act moved the office to Washington,

where the director supervised the new Bureau of the Mint

and remained in charge of all mints and assay offices. The

Mint Director required appointment by the president and

confirmation by the Senate and served a term of five years

(unless removed by the president).[42][54] Henceforth, the

Philadelphia Mint would be under the immediate con-

trol of a superintendent, like the other mints. The actalso formally made the bureau part of the Department

of the Treasury.[55] The Mint of the United States had

originally reported directly to the president but over time

legislation had made it subject to control by the Treasury

Secretary.[56]

Little change was made to the officers of the mints, other

than adding a superintendent for Philadelphia (Pollock

would be the first incumbent), and abolishing the office

of Treasurer at each facility. In addition to the superin-

tendent, each mint had as officers the Assayer, the Melter

and Refiner, and the Coiner; each was required to post a

bond to indemnify the government against losses duringtheir tenure of office, and each was responsible for part

of the coining process. Philadelphia also had an Engraver

(sometimes Chief Engraver), responsible for preparing

coinage dies and designs, though the Director of the Mint

could, with the agreement of the Treasury Secretary, hire

outside artists to design coins.[57][58] The provision allow-

ing for the hiring of outside artists was inserted at the sug-

gestion of former director Patterson.[28] The act set the

salaries and bonding requirements for the officers, and

required them to be appointed by the president and con-

firmed by the Senate, as was the case under both the 1792

and 1837 acts. It also setforth the procedures for appoint-ment of an acting officer or Director of the Mint, in the

case of the incumbents temporary absence.[57]

4.2 Coins and deposit of bullion (1339)


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6 4 PROVISIONS

File:1873_H10C_Ultra_Cameo.jpg

The two-cent piece, three-cent silver, and half dime

were discontinued by the Coinage Act of 1873.

Sections 14 to 16 of the act set forth the coins authorized

to be struck by the Mint Bureau. This is the part of the

act that would later prove contentious, as it omitted the

standard silver dollar, since 1853 the only coin into which

depositors of silver bullion could have their metal struck.

It did allow for a Trade dollar, of higher weight than the

old coin, that depositors could have their silver made into,

but the legal tender of this and all silver coins was lim-

ited to $5[59]the old silver dollar had an unlimited legaltender.[60] All gold coins had unlimited legal tender, and

the act made provision for the redemption of gold coin

abraded below normal weight at full value, if twenty years

or more old and if still containing 99.5 percent or more

of the authorized weight. Lightweight gold coin that did

not meet these qualifications would have the loss in value

fall upon the depositor.[61]

Also eliminated by the 1873 act were the two-cent piece,

three-cent silver and half dime.[42] Although the first two

coins circulated little, the half dime was still being heavily

struck by the San Francisco Mint for use in the Far West,

where paper money was disfavored.[62] The coins autho-rized by the 1873 act were the cent, three-cent nickel,

five-cent nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar, Trade dollar,

gold dollar,quarter eagle,three-dollar piece,half eagle,

eagle, anddouble eagle.[61]

The act prescribed the specifications of each coin. No

change was made to the bronze composition of the cent.

The dime, quarter, and half dollar were made slightly

heavier so that a dollar in these coins would weigh 25grams (0.88 oz), in a nod to the metric systemthe five-

cent nickel already weighed 5 grams (0.18 oz). It required

that the obverse of each American coin be emblematic of

Liberty, and that an eagle must appear on the reverse, ex-

cept for the small-diameter cent, three-cent nickel, five-

cent nickel, dime, gold dollar, and three-dollar piece, on

which an eagle could not appear. It required the use of

the countrys name on the reverse, and of E Pluribus

Unum somewhere on the coin. It allowed the motto

In God We Trust to appear on American coinage[63]

continuing permission granted in the Act of March 3,

1865, which had authorized the three-cent nickel.[64] The

1873 law allowed for the redemption of current or obso-lete base-metal coinage by the Treasury when presented

in lots of $20 or more,[65] continuing a provision enacted

in 1871.[66]

Further provisions in this part of the act allowed depos-

itors of silver bullion to receive their metal back in the

form of bars or in Trade dollars. It forbade deposit of sil-

ver for striking into other coins, but allowed the Mint, for

two years, to purchase silver bullion with silver coins at

Philadelphia and at the New York Assay Office.[67] This

practice, although illegal under the 1853 act, had long

been permitted by Mint Directors.[68]

4.3 Testing and the Assay Commission

(4050)

Medal (by Chief EngraverWilliam Barber) struck for the 1873

Assay Commission. The casket on the reverse honors Philadel-

phia Mint Assayer Jacob Eckfeldt, who had recently died.[69]

Main article:United States Assay Commission

The annualAssay Commissionmet at the Philadelphia

Mint in most years from 1797 to 1980, when it was abol-

ished. Consisting of government officials and members

of the public, it tested the gold and silver coins issued bythe Mint to ensure they met standards.[70]

The 1837 act had designated the judge of the United
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_for_the_Eastern_District_of_Pennsylvaniahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assay_Commissionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Assay_Commissionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Barber_(engraver)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_eaglehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_(United_States_coin)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_eaglehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-dollar_piecehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_eaglehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrasion_(mechanical)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1873_H10C_Ultra_Cameo.jpg


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7

States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsyl-

vania, theUnited States Attorneyfor that district, and the

Collector of the Port of Philadelphia as members ex offi-

cioof the Assay Commission. The Coinage Act of 1873

kept the judge as a member, but omitted the other two,

substituting the Comptroller of the Currency and the as-

sayer of the New York Assay Office. Under the 1837act, the president was allowed to appoint members of the

public each year, and this continued under the new leg-

islation. The 1873 law also prescribed a detailed proce-

dure for taking samples from each delivery by that mints

Coiner, sealing them in envelopes and transmitting them

to Philadelphia, where the Assay Commission met each

February.[71]

This part of the Coinage Act also provided as to how the

Coiner should settle accounts, for internal testing of coins

outside the auspices of the Assay Commission, and con-

tinued the bullion fund, allowing depositors of gold or

silver to receive coins or other payment without having towait for the actual metal they had deposited to go through

the coining process. The mints were required to have a

set of weights conforming to the official weight weighing

one troy pound purchased by the U.S. minister in London

in 1827, and to have the ones at Philadelphia tested in the

presence of the Assay Commission each year.[72]

4.4 Criminal offenses and miscellaneous

provisions (5167)

Sections 51 to 53 regulated matters that had proved con-

troversial in past decades. Section 51 required all ob-

verse dies (containing the date on most denominations)

to be destroyed at the conclusion of each year.[73] Un-

der Director Snowden in the 1850s, the Mint had re-

struck rare early-dated coins to sell or exchange with

collectors.[74] Medals of a national nature could be struck

at Philadelphia under Section 52, but private medals

were forbidden.[73] Until 1854, the year in which he was

fired by PresidentFranklin Pierce, Peale had conducted

a controversial medals business on the premises of the

Philadelphia Mint.[75] Section 53 required the bureaus

profits fromseignorageto be deposited in the Treasuryand forbade the Mint from paying expenses or salaries

from that money.[73] Under Director Patterson (retired

1851), the Mint had retained such earnings, and spent

them without congressional oversight.[76]

The assay offices were regulated by sections 54 through

60, under the control of the Director of the Mint. Each

office would be governed in a manner similar to the mints,

with a superintendent in charge and two subordinate offi-

cers: an Assayer and a Melter and Refiner. Sections 61 to

64 forbade counterfeiting, intentional lightening of coins

to secure metal, and other offenses, and prescribed the

punishments for them. Section 65 is a transition provi-sion, setting an April 1, 1873 effective date, as well as

providing that the current Director of the Mint (Pollock)

would become superintendent at Philadelphia, and the oc-

cupants of the office of Treasurer at each mint (abolished

by the legislation) would become Assistant Treasurers of

the United States. Section 66 names each mint and as-

say office, and Section 67 names the legislation as the

Coinage Act of one thousand eight hundred and seventy-

three.[77]

5 Aftermath

5.1 Later reaction

The abolition of the half dime, still circulating in the Far

West, led to shortages of small change there. Congress

tried to address this with the unpopular twenty-cent piece,

which was struck for circulation only in 1875 and 1876

and was rejected by the public for its similarity to thequarter dollar. The Western United States was not fully

supplied with small change until the Mint began striking

cents there in 1908 and five-cent nickels in 1912.[78] The

Trade dollar, struck principally to compete with Mexi-

can dollars in the Far East trade, failed to gain full accep-

tance in the Orient. Many were returned to (or never left)

the United States. As they could be purchased at a dis-

count, they were popular among employers, who placed

them in workers pay packets. In 1876, Congress revoked

even the limited legal tender status they enjoyed; in 1878,

the Mint stopped striking them except for collectors,

and even that limited issue ceased after 1885. In 1887,

Congress allowed a six-month window during which theycould be redeemed for other currency, provided they had

not beenchopmarkedby Oriental merchants.[79][80]

TheTrade dollar, intended for use in the Far East, became con-

troversial when circulated in the U.S.

As Friedman noted, if the price of silver had remained

high, the exclusion of the silver dollar from the 1873 act

would have been irrelevant.[81] By 1874, the effect of the

new mines in the Far West, and the sale of silver in Ger-

many following its demonetization there, combined to

force the price of silver down. Silver producers had not

been aware of the statutory change, and only learned of it

when they sought to present silver at the mints for coin-

ing. According to numismatic historianDon Taxay, anagitation followed, during which several pious Congress-

men feigned ignorance of the repeal, maintaining it had
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Taxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_dollarhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_(East_Asia)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-cent_piece_(United_States_coin)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seignoragehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Piercehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assay_Officehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Attorneyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_for_the_Eastern_District_of_Pennsylvaniahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_for_the_Eastern_District_of_Pennsylvania


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8 5 AFTERMATH

been worked into the Mint bill surreptitiously.[82] One

Delaware manufacturer wrote to his senator, Thomas F.

Bayard, in 1878, at the beginning ... I was totally ig-

norant of all that related to the silver questionso much

in fact that (I find now like almost everyone else not ex-

cluding Congressmen!) I did not know Silver had been

demonetized.[83]

A severe depression, the Panic of 1873, began in the same

year as passage of the act, and persisted for much of the

decade. Many in the United States came to believe the

gold standard too rigid to deal with economic hard times

like those, and sought to restore bimetallism.[84] The in-

flation caused by such a policy would enable debtors to

repay what they owed more easily.[85] The price of silver

continued to fallthe silver in a dollar in the new metric-

weight subsidiary silver coins was worth only $.75 by mid-

1876, though the price recovered some after that.[86]

In early 1875, Congress passed a bill for theresumptionof specie payments (that is, in gold and silver coin)

effective in 1879.[87] Friedman stated that had it not been

for the 1873 act, resumption would have been on the

effective basis of a silver standard, which he viewed as

a good thing, allowing for more economic stability and

almost surely would have avoided the downturn of the

early 1890s known as thePanic of 1893.[88]

The gold standard triumphant: a caricature fromPuck maga-

zine, 1900.

Support for bimetallism grew in the 1870s, and resulted

in the passage of theBlandAllison Actof February 28,

1878, over the veto of President Rutherford B. Hayes.

This legislation required the Treasury to purchase mil-

lions of dollars worth of silver bullion each month, and

coin it intosilver dollarsthe denomination was restored

as a legal tender, except when gold was specified bylaw or private contract.[89] Renewed support for silver

led to the passage of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act

of 1890, greatly increasing the silver purchases, and re-

quiring the Treasury to pay for them in banknotes that

could be redeemed for gold. Over the next three years,

$132,000,000 in gold was withdrawn from the Treasury,

and amid another depression PresidentGrover Cleveland

secured the repeal of the silver purchase act.[90]

The free silver movement reached its height with the 1896

campaign of former Nebraska representative William

Jennings Bryan, who won the Democratic nomination for

president after hisCross of Gold speech, which decried

the gold standard, electrified the 1896 Democratic Na-

tional Convention. Bryan was defeated inthe electionby

former Ohio governorWilliam McKinley, and in 1900,

Congress passed the Gold Standard Act, placing that stan-

dard into law.[91] The gold standard was departed from for

many purposes by PresidentFranklin Delano Roosevelt's

New Deal administration, and completely ended by Pres-

identRichard Nixonin 1971.[92]

5.2 Crime of '73

The arrowsby the date of this half dollar showthatit is one made

after the Coinage Act increased its weight to 12.5 grams.

The Atlanta Constitution on April 1, 1873, reported the

passage of the Coinage Act. It noted the abolition of the

two-cent piece and the authorization of the Trade dol-

lar, but did not mention the ending of the standard sil-

ver dollar.[93] There was no widespread objection to the

1873 act until 1876. Several factors combined to bring

forth protest then: tight moneypolicies by the Treasury

in preparation for the resumption of specie payments, a

more precipitous drop in the price of silver than had hith-erto been the case, and widespread use of Trade dollars

after their rejection in the Chinese market. At the same

time, the Comstock Lode and other Western mining areas

were producing record amounts of silver. With a depres-

sion still ongoing, silver began to be seen as a means of

inflating the currency and stimulating the economy.[94]

Beginning in March 1876, former newspaper editor

George Weston published letters asserting that bimet-

allism was mandated by the Constitution, and question-

ing how the Coinage Act had passed. Sympathetic news-

papers began to suggest that the legislation had been

enacted through corruption for the benefit of wealthycapitalists.[95] On August 5, 1876, Missouri Congress-

manRichard Bland(soon to be known as Silver Dick)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Blandhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comstock_Lodehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tight_moneyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atlanta_Constitutionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Delano_Roosevelthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Standard_Acthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McKinleyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1896https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1896_Democratic_National_Conventionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1896_Democratic_National_Conventionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Gold_speechhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jennings_Bryanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jennings_Bryanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jennings_Bryan_presidential_campaign,_1896https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jennings_Bryan_presidential_campaign,_1896https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_silverhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Clevelandhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Silver_Purchase_Acthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_dollarhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutherford_B._Hayeshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bland%E2%80%93Allison_Acthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puck_(magazine)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puck_(magazine)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1893https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specie_Payment_Resumption_Acthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specie_Payment_Resumption_Acthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1873https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_F._Bayardhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_F._Bayard


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9

told the House of Representatives, The act of February

12, 1873 was a fraud, because its title gave no clue to

the real intent of the act. The record shows that the act

was stealthily passed, without reconsideration and with-

out debate.[82] In 1878, Congressman Kelley, who had

introduced the bill into the House, stated, I was ignorant

of the fact it would demonetize the silver dollar.[96]

Often blamed by those who deemed the act a crime was

British financial writer Ernest Seyd, who had given ad-

vice as to the text of the bill, as attested by Congressman

Hooper on the House floor in 1872.[97] Seyd, according

to this theory, was the agent of a group of British holders

of American bonds, who had sent Seyd to America with

100,000 (then about $550,000) to bribe congressmen

into demonetizing silver. Kelley denied this had taken

place, butthe story stuck, and became a common belief in

the silver movement.[98] In 1890, Seyds corrupt involve-

ment was asserted on the floor of the House of Repre-

sentatives by ArkansassThomas C. McRae.[97] Seyd wasin fact an ardent bimetallist who strongly objected to the

American demonetization of silver.[99] He had submitted,

at Hoopers request, an analysis of the bill in the course

of which he advocated retaining the silver dollar as a legal

tender.[100]

The earliest use of the phrase Crime of 1873 in con-

gressional debate was by Colorado Senator Henry M.

Teller, who on July 10, 1890, stated, the fight for free

coinage [of silver] is on, and it will stay on, too, till the

will of the people shall be heard in the enactment of a

law that shall put silver back where it belongs and where

it would have been but for the blunder or the crime of1873.[101] The act had long been referred to as a crime

without the exact phrase being used; in one 1889 speech,

Nevada SenatorWilliam M. Stewart called it a crime

seven times. He had voted for it in 1873.[102][103]

6 See also

Coinage Act of 1834

Coinage Act of 1849

Coinage Act of 1857

Coinage Act of 1864

Coinage Act of 1965

Alexander del Mar

Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of

Oz

7 Notes

[1] Actually, 88 percent nickel and 12 percent copper

[2] Even with the increase, a dollars worth of the smaller

coins weighed less than the to-be-abolished silver dollar,

thus they were subsidiary.

[3] Bimetallism would not have remained with the retention

of the lightweight dollar. The new coins would only have

been issued on government order: thus, depositors of bul-

lion could not have had their metal converted into the

lightweight pieces. The proposed piece was to be struck to

the standard of the subsidiary coins, thus two half dollars

would have weighed the same as one of the new dollars.

SeeTaxay, p. 257,Van Ryzin, p. 107.

8 References

[1] Lange, p. 40.

[2] Taxay, pp. 217221.

[3] Lange, pp. 4142.

[4] Lange, p. 47.

[5] Lange, pp. 9192.

[6] Carothers, pp. 186192.

[7] Van Ryzin, p. 140.

[8] Carothers, pp. 180, 193194.

[9] Taxay, pp. 241242.

[10] Taxay, pp. 243245.

[11] Carothers, p. 200.

[12] Nugent, pp. 911.

[13] Nugent, pp. 9195.

[14] Nugent, pp. 147149.

[15] Nugent, pp. 3334.



[18] Nugent, pp. 67100, 105.



[21] Taxay, p. 250.

[22] Taxay, p. 251.


[24] Nugent, p. 138.

[25] Nugent, p. 140.

[26] Nugent, p. 145.

[27] Weinstein, p. 318.

[28] Taxay, p. 254.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFWeinsteinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFCarothershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFCarothershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFCarothershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFCarothershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFCarothershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFLangehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFLangehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFLangehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFLangehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_interpretations_of_The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Ozhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_interpretations_of_The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Ozhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_del_Marhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1965https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1864https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1857https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1849https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1834https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_M._Stewarthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_M._Tellerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_M._Tellerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_C._McRaehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Seyd


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10 8 REFERENCES


[30] Nugent, p. 147.

[31] Nugent, pp. 149151.

[32] Nugent, pp. 149150.

[33] Nugent, p. 152.

[34] Nugent, pp. 152, 156.


[36] Taxay, pp. 256257.

[37] Van Ryzin, p. 107.

[38] Taxay, pp. 257.

[39] Nugent, pp. 160161.


[41] Van Ryzin, pp. 9697.

[42] Taxay, p. 258.

[43] Van Ryzin, p. 117.

[44] Nugent, pp. 168170.

[45] Nugent, p. 169.

[46] Nugent, p. 168.



[49] Friedman, p. 1166.

[50] Nugent, p. 136.

[51] Friedman, p. 1172.

[52] Van Ryzin, p. 106.

[53] Nugent, pp. 136137.

[54] Bureau of the Mint, pp. 5051.

[55] Bureau of the Mint, p. 51.

[56] The Mint: Annual Report of the Director. The NewYork Times. December 9, 1873. p. 2.(subscription re-

quired)


[58] Nugent, p. 156.

[59] Taxay, pp. 258259.



[62] Breen, pp. 255258.






[68] Taxay, pp. 253254.

[69] Pessolano-Filos, p. 9.

[70] Coin World Almanac, pp. 163164.

[71] Bureau of the Mint, pp. 35, 5961.



[74] Taxay, p. 191.

[75] Taxay, pp. 188190.

[76] Taxay, p. 180.


[78] Breen, pp. 295298, 334.

[79] Van Ryzin, pp. 124132.

[80] Taxay, p. 284.

[81] Friedman, p. 1168.

[82] Taxay, p. 259.


[84] Nugent, p. 195.

[85] Barnett, p. 179.



[88] Friedman, pp. 11721176.

[89] Van Ryzin, pp. 143, 196198.

[90] Van Ryzin, pp. 205206.

[91] Van Ryzin, pp. 247254.

[92] FDR takes United States off gold standard. The History

Channel. Retrieved August 24, 2015.

[93] The New Coinage Act. The Atlanta Constitution. April

1, 1873. p. 1.(subscription required)

[94] Van Ryzin, pp. 179180.

[95] Van Ryzin, pp. 180181.

[96] Taxay, pp. 260261.

[97] Van Ryzin, p. 190.

[98] Nugent, p. 163.

[99] Friedman, p. 1165.

[100] Weinstein, p. 320 n.60.

[101] Barnett, p. 181.

[102] Barnett, p. 180.

[103] Van Ryzin, p. 116.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBarnetthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBarnetthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFWeinsteinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFFriedmanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atlanta_Constitutionhttp://search.proquest.com/docview/494552455/fulltextPDF/F85B2E09464F4B40PQ/1?accountid=14541http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fdr-takes-united-states-off-gold-standardhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFFriedmanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFCarothershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFCarothershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBarnetthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFWeinsteinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFFriedmanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBreenhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBureau_of_the_Minthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBureau_of_the_Minthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBureau_of_the_Minthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBureau_of_the_Minthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFCoin_World_Almanachttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFPessolano-Filoshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBureau_of_the_Minthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBureau_of_the_Minthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBureau_of_the_Minthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBureau_of_the_Minthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBureau_of_the_Minthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBreenhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBureau_of_the_Minthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBureau_of_the_Minthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBureau_of_the_Minthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Timeshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Timeshttp://search.proquest.com/docview/93278343?accountid=14541https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBureau_of_the_Minthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFBureau_of_the_Minthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFFriedmanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFFriedmanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFWeinsteinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFCarothershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFVan_Ryzinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFTaxayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFCarothershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873#CITEREFNugenthttps://en.wikiped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11

9 Sources

Barnett, Paul (July 1964). The Crime of 1873 Re-

Examined. Agricultural History(Agricultural His-

tory Society)38(3): 178181.JSTOR 3740438.

Breen, Walter(1988). Walter Breens Complete En-cyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins. New York:

Doubleday.ISBN 978-0-385-14207-6.

Bureau of the Mint (1904). Laws of the United States

Relating to the Coinage. Washington, DC: United

States Government Printing Office.

Carothers, Neil (1930). Fractional Money: A His-

tory of Small Coins and Fractional Paper Currency

of the United States. New York: John Wiley & Sons,

Inc. (reprinted 1988 by Bowers and Merena Gal-

leries, Inc., Wolfeboro, NH).ISBN 0-943161-12-6.

Coin World Almanac(8th ed.). Sidney, OH: AmosPress. 2011.ISBN 978-0-944945-60-5.

Friedman, Milton(December 1990). The Crime

of 1873. Journal of Political Economy (The Uni-

versity of Chicago Press) 98 (6): 11591194.

doi:10.1086/261730.JSTOR 2937754.

Lange, David W. (2006). History of the United

States Mint and its Coinage. Atlanta, GA: Whitman

Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7948-1972-9.

Nugent, Walter T. K. (1968). Money and American

Society, 18651880. New York: Free Press. OCLC

180948.

Pessolano-Filos, Francis (1983). Margaret M.

Walsh, ed. The Assay Medals and the Assay Com-

missions, 18411977. New York: Eros Publishing

Company. ISBN 978-0-911571-01-1.

Taxay, Don (1983). The U.S. Mint and Coinage

(reprint of 1966 ed.). New York: Sanford J. Durst

Numismatic Publications.ISBN 978-0-915262-68-

7.

Van Ryzin, Robert R. (2001). Crime of 1873: The

Comstock Connection. Iola, WI: Krause Publica-

tions. ISBN 978-0-87341-873-7.

Weinstein, Allen(September 1967). Was There a

Crime of 1873"?: The Case of the Demonetized

Dollar. The Journal of American History (Orga-

nization of American Historians) 54 (2): 307326.

JSTOR 1894808.

10 Further reading

DeCanio, Samuel (2011). Populism, Paranoia,

and the Politics of Free Silver. Studies inAmerican Political Development 25 (1): 126.

doi:10.1017/S0898588X11000010.

O'Leary, Paul M. (1960). The Scene of the Crime

of 1873 Revisited: A Note. Journal of Political

Economy 68 (4): 388392. doi:10.1086/258345.

JSTOR 1830011.

11 External links

42nd Congress

An intense summary of the issue

On The Crime of 1873, a speech by John Sherman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Shermanhttp://www.bartleby.com/268/10/23.htmlhttp://www.micheloud.com/FXM/MH/Crime/http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/hlawquery.htmlhttps://www.jstor.org/stable/1830011https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSTORhttps://dx.doi.org/10.1086%252F258345https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_object_identifierhttps://dx.doi.org/10.1017%252FS0898588X11000010https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_object_identifierhttp://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8255527http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8255527https://www.jstor.org/stable/1894808https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSTORhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Weinsteinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-87341-873-7https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Numberhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-915262-68-7https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-915262-68-7https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Numberhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-911571-01-1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Numberhttps://www.worldcat.org/oclc/180948https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCLChttps://books.google.com/books/about/Money_and_American_Society_1865_1880.html?id=6TmaAAAAIAAJhttps://books.google.com/books/about/Money_and_American_Society_1865_1880.html?id=6TmaAAAAIAAJhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7948-1972-9https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Numberhttps://www.jstor.org/stable/2937754https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSTORhttps://dx.doi.org/10.1086%252F261730https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_object_identifierhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Friedmanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-944945-60-5https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Numberhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-943161-12-6https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Numberhttps://books.google.com/books?id=rmtAAAAAYAAJhttps://books.google.com/books?id=rmtAAAAAYAAJhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-385-14207-6https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Numberhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Breenhttps://www.jstor.org/stable/3740438https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSTOR


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