he amount of pure silver in this venerable
coin has remained unchanged ever since; only, in 1837, by a reduction of
the alloy fraction to exactly one-tenth, the total weight of the coin
became what it now is, four hundred and twelve and a half grains,
nine-tenths fine. The same law of 1792 had given the gold dollar just
one-fifteenth the weight of the silver dollar. This proportion, which
Hamilton had arrived at after careful investigation characteristic of
the man, was exactly correct at the time, but within a year, as is now
known, on account of increase in the relative value of gold, the gold
dollar at fifteen to one became more valuable than its silver mate. The
consequence was that the gold brought to the United States mint for
coinage fell off year by year, until some of the years between 1820 and
1830 it had been almost zero. Gold money had nearly ceased to circulate.

[1834-1836]

Jackson resolved to restore the yellow metal to daily use. In this he
was opposed by many Whigs, who, so zealous were they for the United
States Bank, had become paper money men. The so-called Gold Bill was
carried through Congress in 1834, changing the proportion of silver to
gold in our currency from fifteen to one to sixteen to one. It should
have been fifteen and a half to one. Now gold in its turn was
over-valued, so that silver gradually ceased to circulate, as gold had
almost ceased before. This result was made worse after 1848, when there
was a still further appreciation of silver through the discovery of gold
in California and Australia. Silver dollars did not again circulate
freely in the country until 1878, though they were full legal tender
till 1873. Gold, on the other hand, was everywhere seen after 1834,
though not abundant in circulation, owing to the large amounts of paper
money then in use.

In 1836 the President ordered his Secretary of the Treasury to put forth
the famous Specie Circular, declaring that only gold, silver, or land
scrip should be received in payment for public lands. The occasion of
this was that while land sales were very rapidly increasing, the
receipts hitherto had consisted largely in the notes of insolvent banks.
Land speculators would organize a bank, procure for it, if they could,
the favor of being a "pet" bank, issue notes, borrow these as
individuals and buy land with them. The notes were deposited, when they
would borrow them again to buy land with, and so on. As there was little
specie