Time for my next research project! UPDATE- TOPIC CHOSEN!

airplanenut

Time for my US History research project! Yay! I have a larger time constraint, so my goal is to have a topic to the ANA tomorrow, so the books can be shipped, at the latest, on Friday.

My realm is US History, 1607-1900, and I need something with a supportable thesis, thus I cannot have a paper on the US Mint and the first coins it produced (which was my first goal )

It was suggested by my teacher that I may want to look at the need for the formation of the SF mint during the gold rush, or possibly the coin designs reflecting the times as we went from Liberty to dead presidents (he would allow me to go into the early 1900s for that).

Any ideas of topics to look into are welcome, or, if you can think of how I could formulate a thesis for the formation of the mint, I would love that, too!

Thanks for your help!

Jeremy

LanLord

Maybe there has already been something like this before, but how about the effects of the California gold rush on US coins.

airplanenut

That would be good, LanLord- it would just show the increase of gold coin production (and the SF mint )

DeepCoin

You might do a thesis on the politics and economics of opening a branch mint. There were two opened for gold, Charlotte and Dalhonega (sp?) and the Carson City mint was opened for silver. Of course, you would have to research why the New Orleans mint was opened.

What drove the decisions more, politics (most likely) or economics. It was not economical in the 1830s to ship the ore for gold elsewhere to refine it. We needed gold coinage at the time (true Y/N ?).

I hope this gives you some ideas for a thesis that would be interesting to work on.

nwcs

Do a paper on the civil war hard times tokens.

LanLord

Also Civil War related would be the impact of the Civil War on the Dehlonega, Charlotte and New Orleans mints and if it caused or increased any of the silver/gold hoarding in the 1860s

RKKay

Or the Civil War and the history of "In God We Trust" on US coinage.

ccr

This link maybe of some help as a reference for some general information. I like everyones suggestions and they are all real good so far. Ncws suggestions are interesting. I don`t have any ideas right now but, I`ll give it some more thought and post again if/when I come up with one.


http://www.coinresource.com/guide/index.htm

coinguy1

Jeremy,

How about something on the S.S. Central America?

You could discuss the treasures on board, as well as the impact that the loss of it's gold had on banks and the economy at the time. I don't remember the details, but I believe I read that the amount of lost gold was so substantial that it had a dramatic / chaotic effect on the banks that were depending upon its delivery and subsequent dispersal. Supposedly many banks were forced to close, etc. Just a thought.

CalGold

Jeremy,

What about a paper on the Bland-Allison Act that lead to the massive coinage of silver dollars that were for the most part neither needed nor wanted in circulation, while coinage of smaller denominations dwindled. Millions of silver dollars were minted that never left the treasury and banks, while the mintage of dimes, quarters, and haves from 1878-1891 plummeted to the level of a few thousand. Big political issue was the free silver (inflationary monetary policy) vs. gold (hard currency, low commodity prices) issue, and William Jennings Bryan's repeated unsuccesful presidential bids etc.

A bit more political-economic in nature, but certainly coin related and more historically signifiant that coin designs.

CG

nwcs

Or maybe the famous speech of William Jennings Bryan against the gold standard. Here is the speech.

airplanenut

Keep the ideas coming!

mrfred

I'd suggest a topic on a particular and intersting person in numismatic history in the USA. One interesting character is Feuchtwanger, who tried to make his own one-cent piece. Then there is the power held by Morgan (of Morgan dollar fame) but that goes past 1900, I believe. There are lots of colorful characters, and some of them had a lot of influence.

mrfred

p.s. here is a pretty cool Feuchwanger cent ...

paigowjohnny

Thesis: U.S. economic expansion was significantly supported by the establishment of the San Francisco and Carson City mints.

Premise: That the extensive wealth generated by the discovery of gold in Caifornia and silver in Nevada would not have been recognized without government support to standardize the control of gold and silver processing and minting.

paigowjohnny

<< <i>You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. >>

Higashiyama

If you want to stay with the original topic related to establishment of the US mint in Philadelphia, I think you will find some very interesting themes that are central to early American politics (Hamilton versus Jefferson, etc). The establishment of a national currency, a bank, domestic and foreign policy . . .

Johnscoin

Hey Jeremy,
How about the need for branch mints (Charlotte, Dahlonega, New Orleans, Carson City and San Francisco) due to the shortage of coinage or the need for something to do with the newfound metal. Charlotte, Dahlonega, San Francisco, and Denver basically had the same reasoning-gold in dem dar hills, whereas New Orleans was slightly different. Could be an interesting topic...
But I may be too late...
John

nwcs

Maybe Andrew Jackson and his assault on the original Bank of America. Or the Embargo of 1807 which caused economic upheaval yet probably paved the way for many great things to come and its impact on coinage. Or a study on the economic relationships between the US and other countries as it relates to the importing and exporting of currency between nations.

greghansen

Failure of Confederate currency/money system to support the Southern war effort during the civil war, and effect of inflation of confederate currency of the South's failed war effort.

airplanenut

<< <i>If you want to stay with the original topic related to establishment of the US mint in Philadelphia, I think you will find some very interesting themes that are central to early American politics (Hamilton versus Jefferson, etc). The establishment of a national currency, a bank, domestic and foreign policy . . . >>

I was thinking of that- but I think that involves the Federal Reserve bank, more

No one is too late- still thinking of ideas- but I'm seeing lots of people thinking about the branch mints

I'm going to be sleeping on finding a thesis for my original idea, still- I wanted to do that for a really long time!

Jeremy

PS- do you think I could say it's, and the federal reserve's, formation helped unite the US as the currency was now one, not that of different colonies?

prooflike

California gold rush, territorial gold, assayers, sf & cc mints.

CalGold

Jeremy,

A federal currency obviously facilitated commerce but as far as the currency uniting the country is concerned, you need to consider the Civil War. And remember that the roots of the Civil War existed from the outset (Constitutional issues such as three-fifths compromise and ban on import of slaves after 1807). Also Spanish and other foreign coins circulated widely in the early years and were legal tender until 1857--just before the Civil War.

CG

michael

you should do a paper on the first official us coin ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thre 1787 fugio cent i mean lots of information out there and really historical and also all the restrikes and the bank of ny horde discovered in the 1860's? a keg of fugios and of course the gold fugio restrikes

i mean ots of information out there
a historical coin

with greast logos on the coin

tempis fugit and nmind your business and the thirteen original colonies and

THE FIRST OFFICIAL EVER USA COIN MINTED BY THE usa GOVENRMENT!!

see the wtire up in the red book full page look in the indwx

the creme de la creme of the next coin report you could do would be on the fugio cent


sincerely michael

michael

also all the logos inspired by benjamin franklin


wow wahyt could be better franklin the first ever american coin !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


sincerely michael

totally cool and american and hot dogs baseball apple pie and i think chevy cars.........lol

nwcs

Or maybe the Hawaiian US coins of 1883. Why were they minted? What was happening? What was the effect?

Steve27

Topic: how the price paid for silver caused the the low mintage of Carson City Morgan dollars. (Most of the silver mined in the Carson City area was coined in San Francisco due to the higher price paid for silver.)

airplanenut

Michael,

Good idea, but it cannot support a thesis statement- the same reason that I cannot write about the first mint.

Jeremy

airplanenut

I got a topic...

It is on the need to coin money, the european influence of coinage, and the nationalistic ideas protrayed, including:

1- european coining technology
2- european circulating tender
3- Corrolation of Britannia and Liberty
4- Chain/Fugio cent showing link between colonies/states
5- end of circulating european coins in 1857
6- other coinage laws passed

Jeremy