Need exact wording of Act of April 2, 1792

Prethen · June 26, 2007 1:55PM

Does anyone have a reference to or electronic copy of this Act? For those that are curious, this was the act that basically established federal coinage.

dan8402 · June 26, 2007 2:21PM

<< <i>Does anyone have a reference to or electronic copy of this Act? For those that are curious, this was the act that basically established federal coinage. >>

I believe that this is what you're looking for. Link to PDF file online

Edit: Here is another non-PDF link Link

Prethen · June 26, 2007 11:29PM

Beautiful! That looks like exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

dan8402 · June 27, 2007 9:11AM

I do what I can.

Swampboy · June 27, 2007 9:20AM

What does section 5 mean...."assayer, chief coiner and treasuer ... shall each become bound" ?

MrHalfDime · June 27, 2007 10:13AM

Because the assayer, chief coiner and treasurer (that would be the Mint treasurer, not the Secretary of the Treasury) would all be working with large sums of money and bullion, and responsible for reporting the balances of each, it was required that each post a surety bond in the amount of $10,000, placing that amount on deposit with the government. This is a form of insurance policy, protecting the Mint in the event of any discrepancy involving the nation's coinage. $10,000 was a huge amount of money in 1792, and the assayer and chief coiner were unable to post the required bond. This presented an enormous problem for the Mint, as without the required bond, the coiner and assayer were unable to perform their duties, so coinage of precious metal coins was delayed. Only copper coins could be minted until the bonds were posted. The bond amount was reduced to $5,000, but both were still unable to post the bond. Thomas Jefferson later posted the bond for the assayer and chief coiner, allowing for the coinage of silver and gold coins.

The wording almost implies that the chief coiner, assayer and treasurer would be chained to their desks.

Swampboy · June 27, 2007 12:02PM

Thanks for that explanation MrHalfDime.

Boy, that Jefferson guy sure liked to grandstand!

Writersblock · June 29, 2007 8:09AM

Are you sure Jefferson posted the bond for both of them? I was under the impression that Rittenhouse posted the bond for one of them.

MrHalfDime · June 29, 2007 10:59AM

Your question caused me to go back and take another look at my sources, to see precisely who did post the bonds for the Chief Coiner and Assayer. My library contains many references with information on this subject, but as printed matter instead of electronic, it is often tedious to look up a specific point such as this. A quick check on Google yielded much quicker, albeit contradictory, results. It is no wonder that people can become confused on this issue. One source indicates, as I had thought, that Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State and the Cabinet officer in charge of the Mint, had posted both bonds. Another source credits Mint Director David Rittenhouse with posting the bond for Chief Coiner Henry Voigt, and Charles Gilchrest with posting the bond for Assayer Albion Cox. This information is also as found in Don Taxay's "U.S. Mint & Coinage", and may be the source. Yet another source found on Google credits "private individuals" as the source of the bonds.

This points out the necessity of researching primary sources. In my rather extensive library on Thomas Jefferson, I seem to recall reading that Jefferson himself posted the reduced bonds for both Mint employees, but I cannot immediately put my hands on that source. If memory serves me correctly, this was from either correspondence from Jefferson, or from his journals, both of which would be considered primary sources. I will certainly research this issue further to ascertain the proper identity of the poster(s) of the bonds, and ensure that we do not perpetuate erroneous information.

Writersblock · June 29, 2007 12:44PM

Thank you, I look forward to seeing the results of your research.

Need exact wording of Act of April 2, 1792

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