Eventually, the U.S. decided to devalue the dollar. In the early 1960s, U.S. authorities prevented the conversion of dollars into gold through a series of „gentleman” agreements and other policies – including the London Gold Pool – but these measures were not sustainable; The risk of a run on U.S. gold reserves was too high. [25] With Nixon`s election in 1968, U.S. officials became increasingly worried until Nixon finally issued Executive Order 11615 in August 1971, ending the direct convertibility of dollars into gold. He said: „We must protect the position of the US dollar as a pillar of monetary stability in the world. I am determined that the U.S. dollar will never again be held hostage in the hands of international speculators. [26] This became known as the Nixon shock and marked the dollar`s transition from the gold standard to a fiat currency.

The first U.S. dollar bills were issued as demand notes to finance the Civil War of 1861. The banknotes were called greenbacks because of their green color. Legal tender, called the United States Notes, was first published in 1862 and a standardized system for printing banknotes was first developed in 1869. If the Federal Reserve needs to increase its money supply, it will buy unidentified securities from banks in exchange for dollars. On the contrary, to withdraw dollars from circulation, he would sell securities to banks. The US market had already accepted the Spanish dollar as the basic unit of value. It was minted in Mexico and called the „eight coins” or peso.

It is said that the words Spanish Peso have been abbreviated to an S and a P, one written on top of the other. This has been abbreviated with a „$” sign. In 1963, the words „PAYABLE TO BEARER ON DEMAND” were removed from all newly issued Federal Reserve notes. Then, in 1968, the repayment of pre-1963 Federal Reserve notes for gold or silver officially ended. The Coinage Act of 1965 removed all money from quarters and coins that was 90% money before the law. However, there was a provision in the law that allowed certain coins to contain a 40% silver consistency, such as the Kennedy half-dollar. Later, this provision was also removed, with the last silver halves in circulation having been minted in 1969. All coins previously minted in silver for general circulation are now plated. In 1982, the composition of the cent was changed from copper to zinc with a thin copper coating. The nickel content has not changed since 1866 (except in 1942-1945, when silver and other metals were used to preserve nickel for war purposes). [28] Silver and gold coins are produced by the U.S.

government, but only as non-circulating commemorative coins or in collectors` sets. Paragraph 6 of Article 8 of Article 1 of the United States Constitution provides that the United States Congress has the power to „mint currency” and „regulate” the value of domestic and foreign coins. Congress exercised these powers when it enacted the Coinage Act of 1792. This law provided for the minting of the first U.S. dollar and declared that the U.S. dollar „should have the value of a Spanish terrestrial dollar, since the same dollar is now common.” [75] American silver certificates were a type of representative currency printed in the United States from 1878 to 1964 as part of the circulation of paper money. [17] They were manufactured in response to the agitation of money by citizens angered by the Fourth Coinage Act and were used with gold-based dollar bills. Silver certificates were initially in the same face value as silver dollar coins and later exchangeable for raw silver bars. The value of the United States dollar declined significantly during the war, especially during the American Civil War, World War I, and World War II.

[80] The Federal Reserve, established in 1913, was designed to provide „elastic” money subject to „significant changes in quantity over short periods” that differed significantly from earlier forms of high-yield money such as gold, national bank notes, and silver coins. [81] For a very long time, the old gold standard kept prices stable – for example, the price level and value of the U.S. dollar in 1914 did not differ much from the price level in the 1880s. The Federal Reserve first managed to maintain the value of the U.S. dollar and price stability, reverse inflation caused by World War I, and stabilize the value of the dollar in the 1920s before conducting a 30% deflation in the United States. Prices in the 1930s. [82] The familiar dollar(s) (similar to the British counterpart for the pound sterling) are often used to refer to the dollars of various countries, including the U.S. dollar. This term dates back to the 18th century and could come from the colonial leather trade, or it could come from a poker term. [27] After the adoption of the U.S.

Constitution, the U.S. dollar was defined by the Coinage Act of 1792. It specified that a „dollar” based on the Spanish ground dollar must contain 3714⁄16 grains of fine silver or 416.0 grains (26.96 g) of „standard silver” with a purity of 371.25/416 = 89.24%; and an „eagle” with 2474⁄8 grains of fine gold or 270.0 grains (17.50 g) of 22 carats or 91.67% fine gold. [39] Alexander Hamilton arrived at these figures based on a Treasury analysis of the average fine silver content of a sample of used Spanish dollars, which was 371 grains. In combination with the prevailing gold-silver ratio of 15, the standard for gold was calculated at 371/15 = 24.73 grains of fine gold or 26.98 grains of 22-carat gold. By rounding the latter to 27.0 grains, the dollar standard was finalized at 24.75 grains of fine gold, or 24.75*15 = 371.25 grains = 24.0566 grams = 0.7735 troy ounces of fine silver. To combat severe deflation, Congress and President Roosevelt issued a series of congressional and executive orders in early 1933 that overrode the gold standard except for foreign currency, abolished gold as the universal legal tender for debt, and banned private ownership of significant amounts of gold coins. These laws included Executive Order 6073, the Emergency Banking Act, Executive Order 6102, Executive Order 6111, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the Banking Act of 1933, the Gold Clause, and later the Gold Reserve Act.[12] These lawsuits were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1935 in the Gold Clause cases. [14] The U.S. dollar was originally defined as a bimetallic standard of 371.25 grains (24.057 g) (0.7735 troy ounces) of fine silver, or from 1837 23.22 grains (1.505 g) of fine gold, or $20.67 per troy ounce.

The Gold Standard Act of 1900 tied the dollar exclusively to gold. Beginning in 1934, its gold equivalence was revised to $35 per troy ounce. Since 1971, all ties with gold have been severed. Subsequently, the U.S. administration of President George Washington returned to monetary matters in the early 1790s under the leadership of then-Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. Congress acted on Hamilton`s recommendations with the Coinage Act of 1792, which established the dollar as the basic unit of account for the United States. Confederate paper money became worthless at the end of the war. Similarly, the German government has never kept its own promises to withdraw its paper currency. The strength of the country and its economy was behind his newspaper, but there was still great distrust. Various forms of issuance have been proposed: interest-bearing bonds, debt securities redeemable in gold or silver, bonds convertible into silver or gold, banknotes that can be used to pay taxes, banknotes to deal in small quantities in the absence of coins, debt securities representing the guarantee of nationally chartered banks and, in particular, „legal tender” debt instruments (also known as „US debt securities”) – invoices that had to be legally accepted when presented for payment.

In 1690, Massachusetts became the first colony to issue its own paper money, and other colonies soon followed. These letters of credit created tensions between the colonies and Britain, which led to the Currency Acts of 1751 and 1764, which restricted the designation of these notes as legal tender.