Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1895-05-10
Alexander HamIIton's View.

to and now before me with the other
documents above referred 10. On page
l5G he says
But, if the dollar should, notwIth-
standing, be Supposed to have the best
tstle to being considered as the present
unit in the CONS, IL would remain to
determine wha, kind Of dollar ought
To be understood or, in other words,
what precise quantity of fine silver"
On page I5s he again says:
The next inquiry toward a right de-
termination of what ought to be the ia.
ture money unit Of the United States
turns upon these questions: Whether
it ought to be peculiarly attached 10
either of The metals in preference 20 the
other or not, and if to either to which
Of them.
On page l79 Mr. Hamilton rccapitu-
lates and advises as follows;
lone gold piece equal IN weight and
value to ten unit, or dollar
zone gold piece equal to a tenth part
Of the former and which shall be a unit
or dollar"
zone silver piece which shall also be
a unit or dollar
zone silver piece which shall be in
weight and value equal 10 a tenth part
of the silver unit or dollar"
Mr.. jefferson at one time came very
near yielding to the arguments Of Mr..
Hamilton, but the whole matter went
into the American congress at It's inst
session, and out Of the recommendation
and discussions that had been had, the
result was the enactment of the law Of
1852, and section 9 of that act is the
one that settled this question. 1t is as
follows
And be it further enacted That
there shall be from time to time struck
and coined at the said mint, coins Of
gold, silver and copper of the following
denominations, values and descriptions,
viz:
.Eagles-Esch to be Of the value OF
ten dollars or units, and TO contain 247l
grain, Of pure or 30 grains OF stand
ard gold.
HALF Eagles Each TO be of the val
ne OF -, and to contain l23 grains of
pure or l35 grains OF standard gold"
Quarter Eaglcs-Each 20 be Of the
value OF 500 and to contain siNty-ohe
and seyen-eighths grains of pure or
sixty-seyen and four eighths grains Of
standard gold"
Dollars for Units-Each TO be of the
value Of a Spanish mllcd dollar, as the
same is now cHrrcnt, and to contain
81 4-l6 grains Of pure or ilG grains Of
standard silver"
Half Dollars-Each to be Of half
the value Of the dollar or unit and 70
contain 80 1o-16 grains of pure or POS
grains of standard silver"
Quarter Dollars-Each to be of one
fourth the value of the dollar or unit
and to contain ninety-two and thirteen
sixteenths grains of pure or 1O4 grains
of standard silver"
The section closes by fixing the size
Of the MINOR coins.
Was the Law Til 1873.
1t will thus be seen that unit was
settled on silver and remained the law
until 1873, when it was changed to
read as follows;
That the gold coins of the United
States shall be one dollar piece, which
at the standard weight of % $40 grains
shall be the unit of value
The minis were then closed to the
free and unlimited coinage of silver,
and fierce and hostile attitude has
been assumed toward it since that
time. Thus, it will be seen that in fix
ing the unit originally the advise of
Hamilton was rejected and that Of JET
ferson was adopted, aad while that was
the law 1t was as impossible for the sill
yer in a silver dollar to be worth less
than dollar as a bushel of wheat TO be
less than bushel. 1t will be seen that
Hamilton's suggestion Of two units.
gold and a silver unit, was not adopted,
anfJcfferson's position was adopted of
a unit fixed on silver only. Jeffersons
plan contemplated a change in the
commercial ratio of the metal in the
two coins with the intention of chang
ing the size of the gold coins if it should
occur, and this change did occur twice
afterward, and each time the change
| ,yos mod. - .I,o ,,,1J oo;u.