Treasury note of 1891 for $ 50, bearing the image of Secretary of State William H. Seward. These notes were issued in 1890 – 1893 as a provision of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. Such currency drained the Treasury of gold, as they were redeemable in either gold or silver.
Bureau of Engraving and Printing
The Sham of the Free Silver Movement
This movement, which brought about the Panic of 1893, promised much and delivered nothing. T. V. Powderly, a fervent advocate of free silver, was the general master workman of the Knights of Labor. In 1891 he wrote,“‘ If free and unlimited coinage is restored, it will benefit the owners of silver mines and give an 80-cent dollar to circulate with the gold dollar,’ is [ a ] fear entertained.” In fact, the silver mine owners benefited greatly via the Sherman Silver Purchase Act— with virtually all of their silver production( 4.5 million ounces) being bought by the government every month. They did not need free silver for that. And, in 1893, there was a 52-cent dollar— not“ an 80-cent dollar”— that circulated with the gold dollar.
Daniel W. Vorhees, a free silver Democratic senator from Indiana, wrote in 1891,“ In American history the silver dollar has a peculiarly glorious origin, exalted sanction and useful career … the dollar … for 84 years rendered its constant and indispensable aid to the trade, commerce and prosperity of the American people.”
Yet economist Simon Newcomb wrote in 1879,“ It would probably be safe to assert that … one half of the citizens of our country, born since 1840, had never seen a United States silver dollar; if it should be shown that one half of our people had seen a silver dollar some time in their lives, we could fall back on the well-known historic fact that the dollar in question was rarely used as money after 1840.”
The vast majority of silver dollars, struck from 1878 to 1893( and beyond), called Bland dollars, did not circulate. Circulating silver currency generally took the form of silver certificates, paper money that was backed by millions of silver dollars that languished in Treasury vaults. Did the silver dollar“ aid to the trade, commerce and prosperity” of Americans? Historian Worthington Chauncey Ford wrote in 1889,“ Of the total coinage [ of silver dollars ] effected in the 12 months ending June 30, 1888, less than $ 40,000 passed out of
36 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Fall 2025 | www. MoAF. org