the united states went on the gold standard after the civil war.
the united states went on the gold standard after the civil war.
when did the united states go on the gold standard?
after the civil war
in 1704, following queen anne's proclamation, the british west indies became one of the first regions to adopt a gold standard in conjunction with the spanish gold doubloon coin. in 1717, the master of the royal mint, sir isaac newton, introduced a new mint ratio as between silver and gold, and this had the effect of putting britain onto a "de facto" gold standard. following the napoleonic wars, the united kingdom introduced the gold sovereign coin and formally adopted a gold standard in 1821. at the same time, revolutions in latin america interrupted the supply of silver dollars (pieces of eight) that were being produced at the mints in potosi, mexico, and lima, peru. the british gold standard initially extended to some of the british colonies, including the australasian and southern african colonies, but not to its north american colonies, british india, or to southeast asia. the province of canada adopted a gold standard in 1853, as did newfoundland in 1865. in 1873, imperial germany changed over to the gold standard in conjunction with the new gold mark coin. the united states changed over to gold "de facto" in the same year, and over the next 35 years, all other nations changed to gold, leaving only china and the british colonies of hong kong and weihaiwei on the silver standard. the silver standard finally came to an end when it was abandoned by china and hong kong in 1935.
silver standard
the classical gold standard was established in 1821 by the united kingdom as the bank of england enabled redemption of its banknotes for gold bullion. france, germany, the united states, russia, and japan each embraced the standard one by one from 1878 to 1897, marking its international acceptance. the first departure from the standard occurred in august 1914 when these nations erected trade embargoes on gold exports and suspended redemption of gold for banknotes. following the end of world war i on november 11, 1918, austria, hungary, germany, russia, and poland began experiencing hyperinflation. having informally departed from the standard, most currencies were freed from exchange rate fixing and allowed to float. most countries throughout this period sought to gain national advantages and bolster exports by depreciating their currency values to predatory levels. a number of countries, including the united states, made unenthusiastic and uncoordinated attempts to restore the former gold standard. the early years of the great depression brought about bank runs in the united states, austria, and germany, which placed pressures on gold reserves in the united kingdom to such a degree that the gold standard became unsustainable. germany became the first nation to formally abandon the post-world war i gold standard when the dresdner bank implemented foreign exchange controls and announced bankruptcy on july 15, 1931. in september 1931, the united kingdom allowed the pound sterling to float freely. by the end of 1931, a host of countries including austria, canada, japan, and sweden abandoned gold. following widespread bank failures and a hemorrhaging of gold reserves, the united states broke free of the gold standard in april 1933. france would not follow suit until 1936 as investors fled from the franc due to political concerns over prime minister léon blum's government.
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