One dollar disappears from the list
Silver coins did not all disappear when the United States passed the Coinage Act of 1873. But the standard silver dollar disappeared from the list of coins the Mint could make.
The law, signed on February 12, authorized a silver trade dollar, half dollar, quarter and dime. It prohibited the Mint from issuing coins outside the listed specifications. Those silver coins were legal tender, meaning legally recognized for paying debts, but the act limited that status to payments of no more than five dollars.
A different route from silver to money
The change mattered to people bringing silver bullion, metal held for its precious-metal content, to the Mint. The act allowed their silver to be made into bars or trade dollars, but not other silver coins. The old route to newly minted standard dollars was closed.
The trade dollar was a distinct coin with its own weight and a composition of 90% silver. A government could therefore continue making silver coins while changing the terms on which privately owned silver became money. That distinction sits at the heart of the story.
The dollar that came back
The controversy later earned the law the nickname “Crime of 1873.” The Mint’s history describes a bill introduced in 1870 and debated over several years, rather than establishing a simple story of secret enactment.
In 1878, the Bland-Allison Act restored standard silver-dollar coinage. The new design became known as the Morgan dollar, after its designer, George T. Morgan. A trade dollar and a Morgan dollar offer two tangible chapters of this history: both contain silver, but they emerged from different rules about turning that metal into money.
About this edition
Original source and editorial notes
Adapted from original material by Rich Silver. Original source card: Silver fact: supplied original card (publication date not established).
Reviewed 2026-11-05. Replaced the claim that the United States removed silver as money with the statute's narrower changes to authorized coinage and bullion deposits. Retained the historical controversy without alleging a secret conspiracy. The card has no verified publication date or public URL; none has been inferred. No source-card graphics are reproduced. Reader-first revision: Leads with the standard-dollar change while making continuing silver coinage explicit. Explains bullion and legal tender in ordinary language; retains the 1873 five-dollar limit, private-deposit distinction, political nickname and 1878 return. No secret-conspiracy or all-silver-money abolition claim.