As to the question on whom the expence of coinage is to fall, I have been so little able to make up an opinion satisfactory to myself as to be ready to concur in either decision.Ĭlick here for Jefferson’s letter of January 24, 1791.Ī decade earlier, Robert Morris and Gouverneur Morris submitted their own proposal for a mint. I concur with you in thinking that the unit must stand on both metals, that the alloy should be the same in both, also in the proportion you establish between the value of the two metals. I return you the report on the mint which I have read over with a great deal of satisfaction. Click here for Jefferson’s “Report on Weights and Measures.” It is clear that both Hamilton and Jefferson became experts in this field and cooperated in their early days in Washington’s cabinet. Click here for correspondence between Hamilton and Jefferson in April of 1791.Īfter reading a draft of Hamilton’s report, Jefferson replied with high praise: Thomas Jefferson’s 1790 “Report on Cooper Coinage” recommended the use of a decimal based system rather than the cumbersome British system (which used the guinea, pound, half guinea, half pound, double crown, crown, half crown, shilling (known as a “Bob”), six pence, half groat, two pence, penny, half penny, farthing/quarter penny). In particular, Hamilton was able to borrow from prior proposals by Thomas Jefferson. Hamilton was also able to build upon proposals for a national system of coinage that had been submitted to the Continental Congress. Hamilton also consulted files from the Bank of North America and foreign banks. Having been one of the founders of the Bank of New York in 1784 (along with Aaron Burr), Hamilton was clearly well qualified for this project. Hamilton also researched bank practices and procedures, including assay reports prepared by the goldsmith for the Bank of New York (which today is still in business as BNY-Mellon). Hamilton also referred to Sir Isaac Newton’s 1717 Report on the Value of the Guinea. While many are aware that Newton was a leading figure in the Scientific Revolution, it is less widely known that he was the “Master of the Mint” in England for thirty years. Hamilton also heavily relied on Sir James Steuart’s Principles of Political Economy. Although less well known today, Steuart was the most widely read economist in colonial America. ![]() ![]() In preparing his report, Hamilton consulted economic texts including Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations and Malachy Postlethwayt’s Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce (vol 1and volume 2), each of which had written about monetary policy. As described by historian Ron Chernow, “a week after after the Senate approved his bank bill, Hamilton handed beleaguered legislators yet another hefty document.” Hamilton’s exhaustively researched report proposed the use of a silver dollar as the basic unit of monetary value, the implementation of a decimal system, and placing the United States on a bimetallic standard using both gold and silver. An Act establishing a Mint and regulating the Coins of the United Statesīackground: In conjunction with Alexander Hamilton’s bill to create the Bank of the United States, Hamilton also submitted to Congress a detailed Report on Establishing the Mint.
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