Editing Gold Standard Act

{{Short description|1900 U.S. legislation which established gold as the standard for the U.S. dollar}}
{{Infobox U.S. legislation
| shorttitle = Gold Standard Act
| othershorttitles =
| longtitle = An Act to define and fix the standard of value, to maintain the parity of all forms of money issued or coined by the United States, to refund the public debt, and for other purposes.
| colloquialacronym = 
| nickname = Gold Standard Act of 1900
| enacted by = 56th
| effective date = March 14, 1900
| public law url =
| cite public law = {{USPL|56|41}}
| cite statutes at large = {{USStat|31|45}}
| acts amended = 
| acts repealed =
| title amended = <!--US code titles changed-->
| sections created = <!--{{USC}} can be used-->
| sections amended = 
| leghisturl = 
| introducedin = House
| introducedbill = {{USBill|56|H.R.|1}}
| introducedby = <!--sponsor(s)-->
| introduceddate = 
| committees = 
| passedbody1 = House
| passeddate1 = December 18, 1899
| passedvote1 = [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/56-1/h5 192–152]
| passedbody2 = 
| passedas2 = <!-- used if the second body changes the name of the legislation -->
| passeddate2 = 
| passedvote2 = 
| conferencedate = March 6, 1900
| passedbody3 = Senate
| passeddate3 = March 6, 1900
| passedvote3 = [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/56-1/s21 44–26]
| agreedbody3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee -->
| agreeddate3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee -->
| agreedvote3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee -->
| agreedbody4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation -->
| agreeddate4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation -->
| agreedvote4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation -->
| passedbody4 = House
| passeddate4 = March 13, 1900
| passedvote4 = [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/56-1/h40 172–127]
| signedpresident = [[William McKinley]]
| signeddate = March 14, 1900
| unsignedpresident = <!-- used when passed without presidential signing -->
| unsigneddate = <!-- used when passed without presidential signing -->
| vetoedpresident = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| vetoeddate= <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddenbody1 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddendate1 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddenvote1 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddenbody2 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddendate2 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddenvote2 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| amendments = 
| SCOTUS cases =
}}

The '''Gold Standard Act''' was an [[Law_of_the_United_States#Federal_law|Act]] of the [[United States Congress]], signed by President [[William McKinley]] and effective on March 14, 1900, defining the [[United States dollar]] by [[gold]] weight and requiring the [[United States Treasury]] to redeem, on demand and in gold coin only, [[Banknotes_of_the_United_States_dollar|paper currency]] the Act specified.<ref>Including [[Gold certificate (United States)|gold certificates]], [[United States notes]], [[Treasury_Note_(1890–1891)|Treasury notes]], and later [[Federal Reserve notes]], but excluding [[Silver certificate (United States)|silver certificates]] and [[National Bank Note|National Bank notes]] which were secured by government bonds issuing national banks had deposited with the Treasury.  Though the Act did not require national banks to redeem their issued National Bank notes in gold coin, ordinarily they would, as might other banks.</ref>

The Act formalized the American [[gold standard]] that the [[Coinage Act of 1873]], which demonetized silver, and the [[Specie Payment Resumption Act|Resumption Act of 1875]], which made all legal tender notes redeemable in gold at the Treasury, had established by default.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Taussig |first=F. W. |date=1900 |title=The Currency Act of 1900 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1882566 |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=394–415 |doi=10.2307/1882566 |jstor=1882566 |issn=0033-5533}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Falkner |first=Roland P. |date=1900 |title=The Currency Law of 1900 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1009440 |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |volume=16 |pages=33–55 |issn=0002-7162}}</ref> Before and after the Act, silver currency including [[Silver certificate (United States)|silver certificates]] and the [[Dollar_coin_(United_States)|silver dollar]] circulated at face value as fiat currency not redeemable for gold.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Johnson|first=Joseph French|date=1900|title=The Currency Act of March 14, 1900|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2140799|journal=Political Science Quarterly|volume=15|issue=3|pages=482–507|doi=10.2307/2140799|jstor=2140799|issn=0032-3195}}</ref>

The Act fixed the value of one dollar at 25.8&nbsp;[[grain (unit)|grain]]s of 90%&nbsp;pure gold, equivalent to about $20.67 per [[troy weight|troy ounce]], very near its [[Coinage_Act_of_1834|historic value]]. American [[Double eagle|circulating gold coins of the period]] comprised an alloy of 90% gold and 10% copper for durability. After the realigning [[1932 United States elections]] following the onset of the [[Great Depression]], the gold standard was abandoned from March 1933, and the Act abrogated, by a coordinated series of policy changes including [[executive order]]s by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Federal Reserve|title=Roosevelt's Gold Program|url=https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/roosevelts-gold-program}}</ref> new laws,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wikisource|title=Joint Resolution of June 5, 1933|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Gold_Repeal_Joint_Resolution}}</ref> and [[U.S. Supreme Court]] rulings known as the ''[[Gold Clause Cases]]'' narrowly upheld the Roosevelt administration's policies.

After [[World War II]] international agreements comprising the [[Bretton Woods system]] formally restored foreign central banks' ability to exchange United States dollars for gold at a fixed price.  World trade growth increasingly stressed this system, which was abandoned in the [[Nixon shock]] of 1971.<ref>{{cite book |last=James Stuart Olson |title=Historical Dictionary of the Great Depression, 1929–1940 |page=131 }}</ref>  Attempts to reform the Bretton Woods system quickly proved unworkable and failed.  All modern currencies thus became fiat currencies freely floating and subject to market forces despite capital controls imposed by some central banks, with gold as a [[commodity]].{{dubious|date=June 2024|modern currencies}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Money}}
* [[Bland–Allison Act]] (1878)
* [[Double eagle]], one of a variety of U.S. gold coins minted in dollar units at $20.67/ounce
* [[Sherman Silver Purchase Act]] (1890)
* [[Specie Payment Resumption Act]] (1875)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Allen|first=Larry|title=The Encyclopedia of Money|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediamone00alle|url-access=limited|year=2009|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|edition=2nd|place=[[Santa Barbara, California|Santa Barbara, CA]]|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediamone00alle/page/n201 183]–185|isbn=978-1598842517}}
* {{cite thesis |type=Ph.D.|last=McCulley|first=Richard T.|title=The Origins of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913: Banks and Politics during the Progressive Era, 1897–1913|publisher=University of Texas|year=1980}}

==External links==
*[http://www.historycentral.com/documents/GoldStandard.html Gold Standard Act] (text of the Act)
*[http://www.enotes.com/major-acts-congress/gold-standard-act Gold Standard Act of 1900] (discussion)

{{Money and central banking within the contemporary United States (pre–1913)}}
{{William McKinley}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1900 in American law]]
[[Category:1900 in economic history]]
[[Category:March 1900 in the United States]]
[[Category:United States federal currency legislation]]
[[Category:Gold legislation]]
[[Category:Gold in the United States]]
[[Category:Presidency of William McKinley]]