The Coinage Act or the Mint Act, passed by the United States Congress on April 2, 1792, established the United States Mint and regulated the coinage of the United States.[1] 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 U.S. currency.[2]
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.
Contents |
Although some of the provisions in the 1792 Coinage Act were adjusted as time went by, the majority of the rules specified in this Act remained in effect for many decades. Essentially, it provided the basic framework on which all subsequent coinage production was based. While the first draft of the Act stipulated that all coins would employ a portrait of the president on the obverse, the final version called for an image emblematic of liberty. The Act also authorized construction of a mint building in Philadelphia, the nation's capital. This was the first federal building erected under the United States Constitution. Mint director David Rittenhouse laid the building's cornerstone on July 31.
On May 8, 1792 An Act to Provide For a Copper Coinage was signed into law by President George Washington. This legislation resulted in the birth of the copper cent, from which descends today's one cent piece. The Act also stipulated that "the director of the mint... be authorized to contract for and purchase a quantity of copper, not exceeding one hundred and fifty tons... to be coined at the mint into cents and half-cents... and be paid into the treasury of the United States, thence to issue into circulation." Furthermore, "no copper coins or pieces whatsoever except the said cents and half-cents, shall pass current as money, or shall be paid, or offered to be paid or received in payment for any debt, demand, claims, matter or thing whatsoever."
The Act authorized production of the following coins:[3]
| 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 |
| Milles | $0.001 | 1.1 pennyweights (1.7 g) of copper |
The coins were to contain the following markings:
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.
Under Sec.14, any person could bring gold or silver bullion and have it coined free of charge, or later for a small fee, exchange it immediately for an equivalent value of coin. The paragraph summary states: "Persons may bring gold and silver bullion, to be coined free of expense;"
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. Each year on the last Monday in July, under the inspection of the Chief Justice, the Secretary and Comptroller of the Treasury, the Secretary of State, and the Attorney General, the coins were to be assayed and if the coins did not meet established standards, the officers were disqualified from office. Further, specified in section 19, the penalty for fraud or embezzlement by officers or employees of the mint, or of debasing or making the currency to "be of less weight or value" 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.
The silver content of a dollar under this act was almost exactly equal to 1/5 of the silver content of the contemporary British pound sterling, or 4 British shillings.