By quietly erasing a single coin from the registry, the government doubled the wealth of the bankers and guaranteed the bankruptcy of the working class.
It is widely considered one of the most controversial and economically devastating laws in United States history. Passed with virtually no public fanfare, the Coinage Act of 1873 officially ended the minting of the silver dollar, placing the nation on a strict, deflating gold standard.
This book breaks down the brutal mechanical realities of this shift. By eliminating silver as legal tender, the government drastically shrank the national money supply. This caused immediate and crushing deflation, enriching wealthy Eastern bankers who held gold while bankrupting millions of Midwestern farmers who suddenly could not pay their debts.
We explore the furious populist uprisings that followed and the realization that monetary policy had been weaponized. "The Crime of '73" exposes how the definition of "real money" is rarely a natural evolution.
Understand the hidden levers of financial oppression. Demonstrate how a quiet legislative tweak crowned economic winners and losers, sparking decades of bitter class warfare across America.
Dennis D. King
Author
coinage act 1873 crime of 73 gold standard history american monetary policy deflation and populism class warfare economics nineteenth century banking