The History of Currency, 1252 to 1896Shaw, William Arthur
History
The History of Currency, 1252 to 1896
Shaw, William Arthur
Money -- History
This scheme was accepted in its entirety by the Act of 2nd April 1792,
with the slight change that the standard of silver was changed from
11/12 to 1485/1664 fine. The silver dollar, therefore, weighed 416 grs.
gross (371-1/4 grs. pure silver); on this basis, at a ratio of 15, the
equivalent gold piece would contain 24.75 grs. (371-1/4/25 = 27-3/4).
This was accordingly established as the basis of the gold _eagle_ or
ten-dollar piece, which was to contain 270 grs. gross (247.5 grs. pure
gold).[19] The Act was followed by another on the 9th February 1793, for
regulating the rate of foreign coins. The gold coins of Great Britain
and Portugal of their then standard were made a legal tender for the
payment of all debts and demands, at the rate of 100 cents for every 27
grs. of their actual weight, those of France and Spain at the rate of
100 cents for every 27-2/5 grains.
For a period the system established in 1792 went on, although the ratio
established was prejudicial to gold. But, twenty years after, the
natural result arrived in America, as in England, and the circulation of
gold was completely extinguished in the States by the unseen withdrawal
of the metal.
In obedience to a resolution of the Senate of 3rd March 1817, John
Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, produced a report on weights and
measures, in which he impugned the correctness of the data on which
Hamilton had based his reckoning in 1791.
Two years later, 26th January 1819, a committee of the House reported an
ill-considered scheme, recommending a change in the ratio in favour of
gold, and the imposition of a heavy seigniorage on silver. On the 1st of
March following, the House of Representatives directed the secretary to
report such measures as might be expedient to procure and retain a
sufficient quantity of gold and silver coin in the United States.
In this report, in referring to one feature in the previous crisis,
namely, the necessity in 1814 for the suspension of specie payments,
Secretary Crawford stated that, from the commencement of the war until
that event of 1814, a large amount of specie was taken out of the United
States by the sale of English Government bills, at a discount frequently
of 15 to 20 per cent.
He concluded by suggesting a raising of the value of gold in relation to
silver, 5 per cent., implying a ratio of 15.75.
In the report to the House of Representatives, dated 17th March 1832,
quite a different statement was made, namely, that there was no export
of gold from the United States from 1792 to 1821, and that "there were
certainly no indications that gold was rated too low in our standard of
1:15 earlier than 1821, when the English demand commenced."
[Sidenote: UNITED STATES: GOLD EXPORT OF 1820]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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