Congress creates the first United States Mint

On this day in history, April 2, 1792, Congress creates the first United States Mint. Creating a coinage system unique to the new United States was seen as a priority to the Founding Fathers because it would help establish the identity of the young nation, as well as encourage commerce. The full name of the act was An act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States and it directed that a mint should be built in Philadelphia, which was then the capital of the United States.

The Mint Act or the Coinage Act, as it was informally known, created five officer positions to oversee the direction of the mint and the creation of the coinage. The Act directed that the new coins would be based on the decimal system, with the dollar being the chief means of exchange. 10 types of coins were created with the Act: Eagles ($10), Half Eagles ($5), Quarter Eagles ($2.50), Dollars ($1), Half Dollars ($.50), Quarter Dollars ($.25), Dimes ($.10), Half Dimes ($.05), Cents ($.01) and Half Cents ($.005).

Eagles were made of gold, dollars and dimes were made of silver and cents were made of copper. Each coin was to have an image symbolizing “Liberty” on one side. The back of the gold and silver coins was to have an image representing “Liberty” on it, while the back of the cents was to have the coins’ denomination.

Any person could bring in gold or silver bullion and have it minted into coins for free. The Act specified the purity of each type of metal for the coins and created a strict testing system to make sure the coins met the guidelines. Employees of the mint could receive the death penalty for stealing or tampering with the coins.

David Rittenhouse, a renowned scientist, mathematician and astronomer was appointed by George Washington as the first director of the Mint. Rittenhouse had served as Pennsylvania’s treasurer from 1777 to 1789, giving him much experience dealing with currency. Rittenhouse’s first job was to actually build the Mint. He purchased two lots in Philadelphia on July 18, 1792 and construction began immediately.

The first building was the smelting building where the metal ores were melted and separated. The second building contained offices, vaults, weighing rooms and the presses for striking the coins. A third building contained a horse-powered mill where the metal was rolled into sheets. The first coins minted were made from silver flatware donated by George Washington himself. Rittenhouse struck the coins himself to test the new equipment and delivered the coins to Washington.

The smelting and mill buildings were destroyed by fire in 1816 and these functions were moved elsewhere. The main office building, however, with “Ye Olde Mint” painted on its side, remained as the United States Mint until 1833 when a larger facility was built. This original Mint building stood until the early 1900s. It was the first building constructed by the US government after the ratification of the US Constitution.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com   

Jack Manning

President General

2019 – 2021

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

“Liberty must at all hazards be supposed. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure and their blood.”
John Adams

Frederick Muhlenberg elected first Speaker of the House

On this day in history, April 1, 1789, Frederick Muhlenberg is elected the first Speaker of the House of Representatives by the First Congress meeting in New York City. After the Constitution was ratified, the federal government of the United States made its first home in New York City. On April 1, 1789, the House of Representatives had enough members present to begin and elected its first officers. Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, a Lutheran minister, businessman and politician from Pennsylvania, was chosen as the first Speaker of the House.

Frederick Muhlenberg was born in Trappe, Pennsylvania, a son of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, a Lutheran minister and the founder of the Lutheran church in America. Frederick studied in Germany with his brothers and returned to Pennsylvania in 1770, where he preached in Stouchsburg and Lebanon until 1774. In 1774, Muhlenberg moved to New York City to take a church there. When the American Revolution broke out, however, he returned to Pennsylvania for fear the British would take the city and his family would be in danger.

Back in Pennsylvania without a church to preach in, Muhlenberg entered politics and became a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1779. He became a representative to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1780 and served as its Speaker for three years. In 1781, Muhlenberg purchased a home in Trappe and built a general store onto the side of the house where he lived for the next ten years. In 1787, he served as the president of the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention that ratified the US Constitution.

Muhlenberg’s election as the first Speaker of the House of Representatives gave him a great deal of power in shaping the new government. The First Congress, under his leadership, established many of the key departments of the United States government, such as the State Department, the US Treasury and the Department of War. The First Congress passed the first Naturalization Act, Patent Act and Copyright Act, set in place the plan to move the seat of government to Washington DC, built the First Bank of the United States and passed the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the US Constitution. Frederick Muhlenberg was the first person to sign the Bill of Rights upon its acceptance. Muhlenberg was elected to the House for the first four consecutive Congresses and served as the Speaker of the House for the First and Third Congresses.

Muhlenberg was not re-elected to the House in 1797 due to his vote for the Jay Treaty, a treaty intended to reduce tensions with England after the war. The vote was unpopular with many people who thought it was too favorable to England. After leaving Congress, he returned to Pennsylvania and held some minor political offices until his death on June 4, 1801 at the age of 51. He was buried in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which was then the state capital.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com   

Jack Manning

President General

2019 – 2021

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

"They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men."
John Adams (1775)