Gold Prices Limited By Silver To Gold Ratio
Since the United States has domestic silver there has always been a push from western silver bearing states to use silver as money. In 1792 the silver to gold ratio was set at 15:1 which had been an international standard for 100s of years. Then in 1834 another Coinage Act was passed which changed the silver to gold ratio to 16:1, which resulted in the export of massive quantities of US silver coins to Europe where they could still be traded for gold at a 15:1 ratio. Between 1853 and 1873 US silver and gold miners could take their silver and gold to US Mints and have them turned into US coins, and both bullion and US coins were legal tender. Then the Coinage Act of 1873 demonetized silver bullion, ended the ability of silver miners to have an assured place to sell their silver, and established weights for US silver coins that would last for the next 91 years. Then just 5 years later in 1878 under enormous pressure from the silver producing states Cong...