Coinage Act of 1873

Coinage Act Of 1873

The Fourth Coinage Act was enacted by the United States Congress in 1873; it embraced the gold standard, and demonetized silver. Western mining interests and others who wanted silver in circulation years later labeled this measure the "Crime of '73". Gold became the only metallic standard in the United States, hence putting the United States de facto on the gold standard.

The U.S. did not actually adopt the gold standard de jure until 1900, following a lengthy period of debate that was made famous by William Jennings Bryan's cross of gold speech at the 1896 Democratic convention. By this time, most major nations had moved to a gold standard. The only major nation that continued on the silver standard into the 20th century was China. China and Hong Kong abandoned the silver standard in 1935.

The act (H. R. 2934) also placed the United States Mint within the jurisdiction of the United States Department of the Treasury, and specified four United States mints at Philadelphia, San Francisco, Carson City, and Denver, and two assay-offices at New York and Boise City, Idaho.

Finally, the act also ended production of three minor coins, the half dime, the silver Three-cent piece, and the Two-cent piece. None of these were still necessary, and both the half dime and Three-cent piece had been replaced by other coins.

H. R. 2934 was a very lengthy bill written in 67 sections which filled 35 pages in the House Journal on May 27, 1872. When presented to President Grant, he promptly signed it into law on February 12, 1873.