It is also one of only two denominations (the other being the cent) minted in every year from its inception during the first decade of mint operation. However, the order was given by President Thomas Jefferson to halt silver dollar production because of the continued exportation of U.S. dollars. The Spanish 8 Reales, which was slightly heavier than the U.S. dollar, nonetheless traded at a 1-to-1 ratio. So U.S. dollars went to the Caribbean, were traded for heavier 8 Reales, and those were then brought back to the U.S., where they would be recoined for free into more U.S. dollars; the difference in silver, then, was kept by the exporter. This ensured that no dollars would circulate in the U.S., but would instead be exported for their heavier counterparts overseas, leaving little but old, foreign money to circulate in the United States in a process known as Gresham's Law.