Coinage Act of 1849

E10328

The Coinage Act of 1849 was a United States law that authorized the minting of gold dollar and double eagle ($20) coins, expanding the nation’s gold coinage during the California Gold Rush era.


Statements (41)
Predicate Object
instanceOf United States federal statute
amended earlier United States coinage laws
appliesTo United States Mint
appliesToCurrencyType specie
authorizedCoin double eagle
gold dollar
authorizedDenomination 1-dollar gold coin
20-dollar gold coin
branchOfGovernmentInvolved executive branch of the United States
legislative branch of the United States
classification 19th-century economic legislation
United States monetary reform law
country United States
dateEnacted 1849-03-03
effect introduced the double eagle denomination into United States coinage system
introduced the first regular-issue gold dollar coin in the United States
enactedBy United States Congress
faceValueOfDoubleEagle 20 United States dollars
faceValueOfGoldDollar 1 United States dollar
historicalContext California Gold Rush
implementedBy United States Mint facilities
jurisdiction United States federal government
languageOfWork English
legalArea coinage law
monetary law
legalStatus public law
metalSpecified gold
monetaryStandard gold standard (partial)
motivatedBy increased gold supplies from California
purpose to expand United States gold coinage
to provide new gold denominations for circulation
relatedTo Coinage Act of 1792
United States double eagle
United States gold dollar
shortTitle Coinage Act of 1849
signedBy Zachary Taylor
subject United States currency
gold coins
monetary policy of the United States
timePeriod 19th century
yearEnacted 1849

Referenced by (2)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Coinage Act of 1834
followedBy
Coinage Act of 1849
shortTitle

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