The History of the Morgan Silver Dollar

The story of the Morgan begins with the Louisiana Purchase by President Jefferson in 1803. Jefferson believed that westward expansion was the key to the nation’s health. By 1840, nearly seven million Americans (40% of our current population) had left their homes in search of economic opportunity. The California Gold Rush of 1949…

By 1859, the first major discovery of silver ore in the United States was made at the Comstock Lode. This sparked a silver rush of prospectors to Nevada and caused considerable excitement in California and throughout the United States. Not everyone was sold on the importance of silver, however. The ‘Crime of ‘73,’ removed the usage of the silver dollar from the list of authorized coins and acknowledged the gold standard over silver. What followed was a five-year economic depression. Advocates agreed to a proposal that allowed silver to be purchased at market rates and minted into silver dollars, and requiring the U.S. Treasury to purchase between $2-4 million silver each month from western mines.

This came to fruition with the Bland-Allison Act of 1878. Though vetoed by President Hayes, Congress overrode the veto to enact this bill into law. It required the U.S. Treasury to buy a certain amount of silver and put it into circulation as silver dollars.

The Morgan Silver Dollar was authorized by the Bland-Allison Act. It was the first silver dollar minted since the Seated Liberty Dollar ceased due to the Coinage Act of 1873, also known as the “Crime of ’73.’ The coin is named after its designer, George T. Morgan. The obverse depicts a profile portrait representing Liberty, while the reverse depicts an eagle with wings outstretched. The first acceptable struck of the Morgan Dollar, made after adjustments to the press, was on March 11, 1878 at 3:17 pm at the Philadelphia Mint, and was given to President Hayes. The Morgan Silver Dollar was struck at the following Mints: Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, Carson City, and New Orleans.

The Bland-Allison Act was overturned by the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, which increased the amount of silver the government was required to purchase on a monthly basis to $4.5 million ounces. Free Silver supporters still did not consider either of these acts of be sufficient measures to enforce the unlimited coinage of silver.

The Sherman Act was repealed in 1893 after it was believed to have caused the ‘Panic of 1893,’ because of the inflation generated by the act. In 1898, Congress approved a bill that required all remaining bullion purchased under the Sherman Silver Purchase Act to be coined into silver dollars. By 1904 silver reserves were depleted, and the Mint ceased to strike the Morgan Dollar.

Then Pittman Act was enacted in 1918. It authorized the conversion of no more than 350,000,000 standard silver dollars into bullion and its sale, or use for subsidiary silver coinage, and directed purchase of domestic silver for re-coinage of a like number of dollars. Almost 300 million Morgan’s were melted into bullion because of this Act. Thus only a fraction of Morgan’s minted prior to 1918 still remain today, and reported mintage figures could be much higher than the actual amount still extant.


The Mints