Coinage Act (1792)
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The Coinage Act, passed by the U.S. Congress on April 2, 1792, established the U.S. Mint and regulated coinage of the United States. The long title of the legislation is An act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States. This act established the dollar as the unit of money in the United States, and created a decimal system for U.S. currency.
By the Act, the Mint was to be situated at the seat of government of the United States. The five original officers of the U.S. Mint were a Director, an Assayer, a Chief Coiner, an Engraver, and a Treasurer (not the same as the Secretary of the Treasury). The Act allowed that one person could perform the functions of Chief Coiner and Engraver. The Assayer, Chief Coiner and Treasurer were required to post a $10,000 bond with the Secretary of the Treasury.
The Act authorized production of the following coins:
| Eagles | $10 | 247 4/8 grain (16.0 g) pure or 270 grain (17.5 g) standard gold |
| Half Eagles | $5 | 123 6/8 grain (8.02 g) pure or 135 grain (8.75 g) standard gold |
| Quarter Eagles | $2.50 | 61 7/8 grain (4.01 g) pure or 67 4/8 grain (4.37 g) standard gold |
| Dollars or Units | $1 | 371 4/16 grain (24.1 g) pure or 416 grain (27.0 g) standard silver |
| Half Dollars | $0.50 | 185 10/16 grain (12.0 g) pure or 208 grain (13.5 g) standard silver |
| Quarter Dollars | $0.25 | 92 13/16 grain (6.01 g) pure or 104 grains (6.74 g) standard silver |
| Dismes | $0.10 | 37 2/16 grain (2.41 g) pure or 41 3/5 grain (2.70 g) standard silver |
| Half Dismes | $0.05 | 18 9/16 grain (1.20 g) pure or 20 4/5 grain (1.35 g) standard silver |
| Cents | $0.01 | 11 pennyweights (17.1 g) of copper |
| Half Cents | $0.005 | 5 1/2 pennyweights (8.55 g) of copper |
The coins were to contain the following markings:
- One side was to have an impression emblematic of liberty, with the inscription "Liberty", and the year of the coinage.
- The reverse side of each of the gold and silver coins was to have the figure or representation of an eagle with the inscription "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA".
- The reverse of the copper coins was to have an inscription expressing the denomination.
The Act defined the proportional value of gold and silver as 15 units of pure silver to 1 unit of pure gold. Standard gold was defined as 11 parts pure gold to one part alloy composed of silver and copper. Standard silver was defined as 1485 parts pure silver to 179 parts copper alloy.
Any person could bring gold or silver bullion and have it coined free of charge or for a nominal fee exchange it immediately for equivalent value of coin.
Quality control measures were implemented in that from each separate mass of gold or silver used to produce coins, three coins were set aside by the treasurer. Once each year, under the inspection of the Chief Justice, the Secretary and Comptroller of the Treasury, the Secretary of State, and the Attorney General, on the last Monday in July, the coins were to be assayed and if the coins did not meet established standards, the officers were disqualified from office. Further, the penalty for fraud or embezzlement by officers or employees of the mint was death.
The Act also specified the dollar as the "money of account" of the United States, and directed that all accounts of the federal government be kept in dollars, "dismes," cents, and "milles," a mille being one-tenth of a cent or one-thousandth of a dollar.
External link
- Facsimile of the act (http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001/llsl001.db&recNum=369) in the Statutes at Large from the Library of Congress