April 2: On This Day in World History … briefly

The first silver dollar of America’s new currency is struck in Philadelphia by the Bank of the United States. Each coin contained 371 grains of silver metal and the American eagle on each dollar was a reminder of the fledgling country’s determination to establish an identity that owed nothing to Britain. The Coinage Act or the Mint Act, passed by the United States Congress on April 2, 1792, created the United States dollar as the country’s standard unit of money, established the United States Mint, and regulated the 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 silver dollar as the unit of money in the United States, declared it to be lawful tender, and created a decimal system for US 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 US Mint were a Director, an Assayer, a Chief Coiner, an Engraver, and a Treasurer (not the same as the United States 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 pegged the newly created United States dollar to the value of the widely used Spanish silver dollar, saying it was to have ‘the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current’.

Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.

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