Talk:Coinage Act of 1873

Who put us on the gold standard?
This article claims that "the United States Congress in 1873... embraced the gold standard". However, the article on the Bland-Allison Act claims that "the Bland-Allison Act... also created the Gold Standard". Either one of these articles is incorrect, or further elaboration is required. -- LightSpectra (talk) 17:45, 13 September 2008 (UTC) Neither. As the article Specie Payment Resumption Act correctly points out, it was the Specie Payment Resumption Act of 1875 that provided for the complete convertibility of gold coin and greenbacks by 1879, thereby putting the U.S. on the gold standard. The end of free coinage of silver did end bimetallism and put the U.S. on the path to the gold standard, but it did not put the U.S. on the gold standard itself, since the gold standard requires free convertibility of paper money into gold at par. The article should be edited to state that; I was unable to do it.Isidorpax (talk) 01:00, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

Reasons for the 1873 coinage Act
Do we have a reason for the 1873 coinage act, backed up by sources? I understand that there was alot of controversy about its passage through congress. Also, there is evidence that it was influenced by Bismarck's decision to put the new united Germany unto the Gold standard. But we need sources before any of these important issues can be written into the main article. David Tombe (talk) 17:05, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

The Coinage Act of 1873 was deeply influenced by William Ralston, cashier of the Bank of California. Ralston bribed Henry Linderman, director of the Philadelphia Mint who wrote the measure, to include various provisions that aided the Bank of California. Ralston also used a coalition of Western representatives, including William Stewart, to protect the measure from amendments harmful to Ralston's financial interests. The details of Ralston's actions are documented in Robert Van Ryzin's book "Crime of 1873," and in more detail by Samuel DeCanio's unpublished paper, "Populism, Paranoia, and the Politics of Free Silver." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.235.86.94 (talk) 23:21, 31 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Yes, this article should explain why the Act was introduced. Possibly the decline in international value of silver ? Panic of 1873 says "Coinage Act of 1873 : The decision of the German Empire to cease minting silver thaler coins in 1871 caused a drop in demand and downward pressure on the value of silver; this had a knock-on effect in the USA, where much of the supply was then mined. As a result, the Coinage Act of 1873 was introduced and this changed the United States silver policy. Before the Act, the United States had backed its currency with both gold and silver, and it minted both types of coins. The Act moved the United States to a 'de facto' gold standard, which meant it would no longer buy silver at a statutory price or convert silver from the public into silver coins (though it would still mint silver dollars for export in the form of trade dollars)[6]" but the causes and mechanisms could be clarified. - Rod57 (talk) 11:18, 27 October 2011 (UTC)


 * So far as I recall, the main reason why silver was falling in value was simply the flood of new production which followed the opening of new mines in the United States and elsewhere. As the price fell, many silver coins became worth more than the silver they contained, leading to pressure on governments. In particular, some countries had legislation which obliged their mints to take bullion silver and turn it into coins on demand, and one pressure was to put an end to that; thus less silver was used for coin production, which again increased the world surplus of silver. Moonraker (talk) 13:52, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

Recent edits
I'd appreciate it if the editor with the IP address who made the recent edits would engage here. While the article can always use improvement, in general, we must be careful not to be so technical that the reader will not understand what we're saying, and to make sure that everything in the article is sourced.--Wehwalt (talk) 10:07, 4 April 2022 (UTC)

Where is the new definition of the dollar in the article?
Hello,

The dollar was defined in 1792 and further reaffirmed in the 1834 coinage act as 371 grains of standard silver. What was the new definition of the dollar in the 1873 coinage act? Thank you 2001:861:3CC2:BC60:A5C3:2D35:4BF5:C48C (talk) 10:43, 18 May 2023 (UTC)


 * The dollar was not defined in terms of silver in the 1873 act. Only in terms of gold. The dollar was defined in terms of silver, to a limited extent, by the Bland-Allison Act of 1878, though the government would not purchase silver from all citizens as they would gold.Wehwalt (talk) 11:34, 18 May 2023 (UTC)