1.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
2.
Troy weight
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Troy weight is a system of units of mass customarily used for precious metals and gemstones. One troy ounce equals 31.1034768 grams exactly, there are only 12 troy ounces per troy pound, rather than the 16 ounces per pound found in the more common avoirdupois system. However, the pound has 7000 grains whereas the troy pound has only 5760 grains. Both systems use the same grain defined by the international yard, therefore the troy ounce is 480 grains, compared with the avoirdupois ounce, which is 437.5 grains. So the troy ounce is about 10% heavier than the avoirdupois ounce, although troy ounces are still used to weigh gold, silver, and gemstones, troy weight is no longer used in most other applications. One troy ounce of gold is denoted with the ISO4217 currency code XAU, troy weight probably takes its name from the French market town of Troyes in France where English merchants traded at least as early as the early 9th century. The name troy is first attested in 1390, describing the weight of a platter, the word troni refers to markets. Watson finds the dialect word troi, meaning a balance in Wrights Dialect Dictionary, troy weight referred to the tower system, the earliest reference to the modern troy weights is in 1414. Many aspects of the weight system were indirectly derived from the Roman monetary system. The Romans used bronze bars of varying weights as currency, an aes grave weighed 1 pound. One twelfth of an aes grave was called an uncia, or in English an ounce, before the adoption of the metric system, many systems of troy weights were in use in various parts of Europe, among them Holland troy, Paris troy, etc. Their values varied from one another by up to several percentage points, troy weights were first used in England in the 15th century, and were made official for gold and silver in 1527. The British Imperial system of weights and measures was established in 1824, the troy ounce in use today is essentially the same as the British Imperial troy ounce, adopted as an official weight standard for United States coinage by Act of Congress on May 19,1828. The British Imperial troy ounce was based on, and virtually identical with, the pre-1824 British troy ounce, the English troy ounce was officially adopted for coinage in 1527. Troy ounces have been used in England since about 1400, before that, various sorts of troy ounces were in use on the continent. The troy ounce and grain were also part of the apothecaries system and this was long used in medicine, but has now been largely replaced by the metric system. The only troy weight in widespread use today is the British Imperial troy ounce, both are currently based on a grain of 0.06479891 gram, with 480 grains to a troy ounce. The British Empire abolished the 12-ounce troy pound in the 19th century, the origin of the troy weight system is unknown
3.
Carson City Mint
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The Carson City Mint was a branch of the United States Mint in Carson City, Nevada. It primarily minted low numbers of coins, however, gold was also minted in greater numbers. The mint was in operation for about 19 years, the Carson City Mint was created in 1863 but wasnt put into operation until 1870. It ran until 1885, went on a hiatus, and resumed operations in 1889 and it is now the Nevada State Museum, Carson City. Built at the peak of the silver boom conveniently near a local mine,50 issues of silver coins and 57 issues of gold coins minted here between 1870 and 1893 bore the CC mint mark. From 1895 to 1933, the served as the U. S. Assay Office for gold. The federal government sold the building to the state of Nevada in 1939, coins struck here, especially Morgan Dollars, are generally rare and command a high premium among collectors. The building that housed the mint was the first designed by Alfred B, mullett after he became Supervising Architect of the Department of the Treasury. The construction supervisor was Abraham Curry, also known as the Father of Carson City, the simple Renaissance Revival-style stone facade has pairs of round-headed windows and a center portico. It is now the home of the Nevada State Museum, although the mint has not struck United States coins since 1893, Coin Press No.1 is still in the building and used to strike commemorative medallions with the CC mint mark. The most recent of these are medallions commemorating the 75th anniversary of the museum, nV-13-22, United States Mint, Carson Street, Carson City, Carson City, NV,14 photos,13 data pages
4.
Denver Mint
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The Denver Mint is a branch of the United States Mint that struck its first coins on February 1,1906. The mint is still operating and producing coins for circulation, as well as mint sets, coins produced at the Denver Mint bear a D mint mark. The Denver Mint is the single largest producer of coins in the world, the predecessors of the Denver Mint were the men of Clark, Gruber and Company. During the Pikes Peak Gold Rush, they coined gold dust brought from the fields by the miners. In 1858, Austin M. Clark, Milton E. Clark and Emanuel Henry Gruber founded a firm in Leavenworth, Kansas. Desiring to save on shipping and insurance costs associated with shipping gold back east, the firm opened a private mint. On 25 July 1860, the mint opened in a two story building on the corner of Market and 16th Streets, minting $10 gold pieces at the rate of fifteen or twenty coins a minute. On the face is a representation of the peak, its surrounded by a forest of timber. Immediately under its base is the word Denver, and beneath it Ten D, on the reverse is the American Eagle encircled by the name of the firm Clark, Gruber & Co. and beneath the date,1860. A $20 gold coin was added, the weight will be greater, a $5 and a $2.5 gold coin were added, with production reaching $18,000 per week. On the front was the head of the Goddess of Liberty surrounded by thirteen stars, pikess Peak Gold, Denver was on the other side, with 5D. or 2 1/2 D. In the almost three years of operation, they minted $594,305 worth of Pikes Peak Gold in the form of gold coins, additionally, they purchased 77,000 troy ounces of raw gold, and shipped large amounts of dust to the Philadelphia Mint. The building, assaying and minting equipment was bought by the US Treasury in April 1863. Clark, Gruber & Co. remained a bank until bought by the First National Bank of Denver in 1865, established by an Act of Congress on April 21,1862, the United States Mint at Denver opened for business in late 1863 as a United States Assay Office. Operations began in the facilities of Clark, Gruber and Company, located at 16th and Market Streets and acquired by the government for $25,000, unlike Clark, Gruber and Company, though, the Denver plant performed no coinage of gold as first intended. One reason given by the Director of the Mint for the lack of coinage at Denver was, …the hostility of the Indian tribes along the routes, doubtless instigated by rebel emissaries and bad white men. Gold and nuggets brought there by miners from the area were accepted by the Assay Office for melting, assaying. The bars were returned to the depositors as imparted bars stamped with the weight
5.
New Orleans Mint
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The New Orleans Mint operated in New Orleans, Louisiana, as a branch mint of the United States Mint from 1838 to 1861 and from 1879 to 1909. During its years of operation, it produced over 427 million gold and silver coins of nearly every American denomination and it was closed during most of the American Civil War and Reconstruction. After it was decommissioned as a mint, the building has served a variety of purposes, including as an office, a United States Coast Guard storage facility. Since 1981 it has served as a branch of the Louisiana State Museum, damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, after over two years of repairs and renovations, the museum reopened in October 2007. As of April 2015, the museums exhibits include instruments used by some of New Orleans notable jazz musicians, photographs, and posters. The site is also a venue for jazz concerts, in partnership with the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park. The Louisiana Historical Center is located on the floor of the building. The center includes collections of manuscripts and maps, and primary and secondary source materials in a wide range of media. It is open to anyone with an interest in Louisiana history, the New Orleans Mint has been designated a National Historic Landmark, and it is the oldest extant structure to have served as a U. S. Mint. Along with the Charlotte Mint, it is one of two former mint facilities in the U. S. to house an art gallery, the rapidly growing United States in the early 1830s experienced a shortage of coins. It is estimated that in 1830 there was one small silver coin per person, also, production of silver dollars was suspended in 1804 because they were being exchanged for underweight Spanish coins in the West Indies. That left the half-dollar as the largest denomination of circulating coin being minted in the U. S, foreign coins were being circulated in the U. S. to alleviate the shortage. The Philadelphia Mint had been the only U. S. mint until 1838, in 1836 Jackson had issued an executive order called the Specie Circular which demanded that all land transactions in the United States be conducted in cash. Both of these actions, combined with the depression following the Panic of 1837 increased the domestic need for minted money. As a result, in 1835 the U. S. Federal Government established three branch mints, the Charlotte Mint in North Carolina, the Dahlonega Mint in Georgia, Dahlonega and Charlotte were in gold mining regions and these mints produced only gold coins. Large quantities of gold from Mexico also passed through its port annually, in the early 19th century, New Orleans, which was the fifth-largest city in the United States until the Civil War, conducted more foreign trade than any other city in the nation. It was also located relatively near to gold deposits discovered in Alabama. The Mints location occupies a prominent place in civic history and it sits at one of the two River corners of the French Quarter, which had been the entire city, or Vieux Carré, of New Orleans
6.
San Francisco Mint
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The San Francisco Mint is a branch of the United States Mint and was opened in 1854 to serve the gold mines of the California Gold Rush. It quickly outgrew its first building and moved into a new one in 1874 and this building, the Old United States Mint, also known affectionately as The Granite Lady, is one of the few that survived the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It served until 1937, when the present facility was opened, within the first year of its operation, the San Francisco mint turned $4 million in gold bullion into coins. The second building, completed in 1874, was designed by Alfred B, mullett in a conservative Greek Revival style with a sober Doric order. Heroic efforts by Superintendent of the Mint, Frank A. Leach, and his men preserved the building, the mint resumed operation soon thereafter, continuing until 1937. In 1961 the Old Mint, as it had known, was designated a National Historic Landmark. It also became a California Historical Landmark in 1974, the given name of The Granite Lady is somewhat of a misnomer as most of the building is made from sandstone. While the base/basement of the building is made of granite, the entire external, the Granite Lady was a marketing term given in the 1970s that stuck. The Old Mint was open to visitors until 1993, in the fall of 2005, ground was broken for renovations that would turn the central court into a glass-enclosed galleria. In 2006 Congress created the San Francisco Old Mint Commemorative Coin, the first phase of renovations were completed in 2011. In 2014, the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society began raising money for the second phase, in 2015, the City of San Francisco looked for a new tenant to renovate and program the space with Activate San Francisco Events being selected as an interim tenant. Until a new tenant is found, the Old Mint will continue to be used for special events, in April 2016, the California Historical Society agreed to undertake the restoration of the building and its preservation as a public space. The new Mint was opened in 1937, beginning in 1955, circulating coinage from San Francisco was suspended for 13 years. In 1968, it took over most proof coinage production from the Philadelphia Mint, from 1975 to 2012, the San Francisco Mint has been used only for proof coinage, with the exception of the Susan B. Anthony dollar from 1979–81 and a portion of the mintage of cents in the early 1980s, the dollars bear a mintmark of an S, but the cents are otherwise indistinguishable from those minted at Philadelphia. In 2012, the San Francisco mint started to mint circulation strike quarters in the America the Beautiful quarter series, marked with an S mintmark and only issued for collectors. From 1962 to 1988, the San Francisco Mint was officially an assay office, the San Francisco Mint is located at 155 Hermann Street, but only admits visitors on rare exception. On May 15,1987, a number of people were allowed to tour the facility
7.
Philadelphia Mint
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The Philadelphia Mint was created from the need to establish a national identity and the needs of commerce in the United States. This led the Founding Fathers of the United States to make an establishment of a national mint. The Coinage Act of 1792 was entered into law on April 2 and it proclaimed the creation of the United States Mint. Philadelphia at that time was the capital, therefore the first mint facility was built there. David Rittenhouse, an American scientist, was appointed the first director of the mint by President George Washington, two lots were purchased by Rittenhouse on July 18,1792, at Seventh Street and 631 Filbert Street in Philadelphia for $4,266.67. The next day, demolition of a whiskey distillery on the property began. Foundation work began on July 31, and by September 7, the smelt house was the first public building erected by the United States government. A three-story brick structure facing Seventh Street was constructed a few months later, measuring nearly 37 ft wide on the street, it only extended back 33 ft. The gold and silver for the mint were contained in basement vaults, the first floor housed deposit and weighing rooms, along with the press room, where striking coins took place. Mint official offices were on the floor, and the assay office was located on the third floor. A photograph of the Seventh Street building taken around 1908 show that by then the year 1792, between the smelt house and the building on Seventh Street, a mill house was built. Horses in the basement turned a mill located on the first floor. In January 1816, the smelt and mill houses were destroyed by a fire, the smelt house was never repaired and all smelting was done elsewhere. The mill house, which was destroyed, was soon replaced with a large brick building. It included a new engine in the basement to power the machinery. Until 1833, these three buildings provided the United States with hard currency, operations moved to the second Philadelphia mint in 1833, and the land housing the first mint was sold. In the late 19th or early 20th century, the property was sold to Frank Stewart, with no governmental help, the first mint was demolished between 1907 and 1911. Now, only a plaque remains to memorialize the spot
8.
James B. Longacre
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James Barton Longacre was an American portraitist and engraver, and from 1844 until his death the fourth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint. Longacre is best known for designing the Indian Head cent, which entered commerce in 1859, Longacre was born in Delaware County, Pennsylvania in 1794. He ran away to Philadelphia at age 12, becoming an apprentice in a bookstore and his artistic talent developed and he was released to apprentice in an engraving firm. He struck out on his own in 1819, making a name providing illustrations for popular biographical books and he portrayed the leading men of his day, support from some of them, such as South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun, led to his appointment as chief engraver after the death of Christian Gobrecht in 1844, in Longacres first years as a chief engraver, the Philadelphia Mint was dominated by Mint Director Robert M. Patterson and Chief Coiner Franklin Peale. Conflict between Longacre and the two men developed after Congress ordered a new gold dollar and double eagle, with both to be designed by Longacre. Peale and Patterson nearly had Longacre fired, but the engraver was able to convince Treasury Secretary William M. Meredith that he should be retained. Both Patterson and Peale left the Mint in the early 1850s, in 1856, Longacre designed the Flying Eagle cent. When that design proved difficult to strike, Longacre was responsible for the replacement, other coins designed by Longacre include the silver and nickel three-cent pieces, the Shield nickel, and the two-cent piece. In 1866–1867, he redesigned the coins of Chile, Longacre died suddenly on New Years Day 1869, he was succeeded by William Barber. Longacres coins are generally well-regarded today, although they have criticized for lack of artistic advancement. James Barton Longacre was born on a farm in Delaware County and his mother Sarah Longacre died early in his life, his father, Peter Longacre, was the descendent of early Swedish settlers of North America. When Peter Longacre remarried, his son found the home life intolerable and he apprenticed himself at a bookstore, the owner, John E. Watson, took the boy into his family. Over the following years, Longacre worked in the bookstore, Watson granted Longacre a release from his apprenticeship in 1813 so that he could follow an artistic muse, but the two remained close, and Watson would often sell Longacres works. Longacre became apprenticed to George Murray, principal in the engraving firm Murray, Draper and this business derived from the firm established by the Philadelphia Mints first chief engraver, Robert Scot. Also employed at the Murray firm from 1816 was the man who would be Longacres predecessor as chief engraver, Longacres first important commission were plates for S. F. Bradfords Encyclopedia in 1820, an engraving of General Andrew Jackson by Longacre based on a portrait by Thomas Sully achieved wide sales. Longacre then agreed to engrave illustrations for Joseph and John Sandersons Biographies of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, although the venture was marked by criticism of the writing, sales were good enough that the project was completed
9.
Eagle (heraldry)
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The eagle is used in heraldry as a charge, as a supporter, and as a crest. The eagle with its keen eyes symbolized perspicacity, courage, strength and immortality, with these attributed qualities the eagle became a symbol of power and strength in Ancient Rome. The eagle as a symbol has a much longer than that of heraldry itself. In Ancient Egypt, the falcon was the symbol of Horus, an eagle appears on the battle standard of Cyrus the Great in Persia, around 540 BC. The eagle as an animal of the Roman Republic was introduced in 102 BC by consul Gaius Marius. According to Islamic tradition, the Black Standard of Muhammad was known as راية العُقاب rāyat al-uqāb banner of the eagle), in Christian symbolism the four living creatures of scripture have traditionally been associated with the Four Evangelists. The eagle is the symbol of Saint John the Evangelist, in medieval and modern heraldry eagles are often said to indicate that the armiger was courageous, a man of action and judicious. Where an eagles wings were spread it was said to indicate the role as a protector. In the same way that a lion is considered the king of beasts and it has been more widely used and more highly regarded in Continental European heraldry than in English heraldry. For instance, in the roll of Henry III of England there are only three eagles, media related to examples of heraldic eagles at Wikimedia Commons The depiction of the heraldic eagle is subject to a great range of variation in style. The eagle was far more common in continental European—particularly German—than English heraldry and it is often depicted membered / armed and langued gules, that is, with red claws / talons and tongue. In its relatively few instances in Gallo-British heraldry, the outermost feathers are typically longer, an eagle can appear either single- or double-headed. On at least one occasion a three-headed eagle is seen, recursant describes an eagle with his head turned to the sinister. In full aspect describes an eagle with his head facing the onlooker, in trian aspect describes when the eagles head is facing at a three-quarter view to give the appearance of depth – with the head cocked at an angle somewhere between profile and straight-on. Overture or close is when the wings are shown at the sides and close to the body, addorsed is when the eagle is shown statant and ready to fly, with the wings shown open behind the eagle so that they almost touch. Espanie or épandre is when the eagle is shown affronté and the wings are shown with the tips upward, abaisé is when the eagle is shown affronté and the wings are shown with the tips downward. A good example is the eagle on the side of the US quarter dollar coin. Klee-Stengeln are the pair of long-stemmed trefoil-type charges on the wings of 13th-century German depictions of the heraldic eagle and they represent the upper edge of the wings and are normally Or, like the beak and claws
10.
Pattern coin
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A pattern coin is a coin which has not been approved for release, produced for the purpose of evaluating a proposed coin design. They are often off-metal strike, to standard or piedforts. They are collected or studied by many coin collectors because of their sometimes highly elaborate designs, the first English coin that can be identified with certainty is a groat, originally worth fourpence. This piece, an example of which was illustrated and sold in the Dodsley Cuff sale of the century, had crowns in place of the usual three pellets in each quarter of the reverse. Patterns are particularly identifiable and exist in larger numbers from the reign of Elizabeth I onwards, the experimental base metal issues of all coinage prior to the mid-18th century have been well preserved. Boultons mint in Soho produced prodigious quantities of patterns, which were supplemented by Taylor some fifty or so years later from the same dies. After the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4,1776, during the next 16 years, a variety of different coin designs from over the world were common. In this period, a large amount of different pattern coins were created, proposed for use in the newly found states. However, none of these designs were used by the general public, in 1792 the United States Mint opened in Philadelphia. In that year several more patterns were created, including the half dime and it is believed that ca.1,500 pieces were struck as patterns, and that these patterns themselves entered circulation during the next decade. Over the next 40 years, more patterns were created but there is little currently known about these pieces. Technically, these coins were not patterns but rather off-metal strikes, an example is an 1807 Half Eagle, or five dollar gold piece struck in copper. Starting in 1836, more patterns were created by the United States Mint in Philadelphia. S, dollars that was minted in 1877 and weighed 2.5 ounces. The U. S. Mint deemed the idea of a 2.5 ounce gold coin infeasable, however, transitional pieces are patterns dated before coins with the new design officially went into circulation. These were often produced during final stage of the pattern process, one famous example is the 1856 Flying Eagle cent, although that coin has been commonly and incorrectly believed to be regular issue due to its high mintage for collectors. Fantasy pieces include many struck in the 1860s and 1870s as patterns and this practice ended in the 1880s, when the U. S. Mint enforced regulations to prevent the sale of pattern coins. From time to time the U. S. Mint experiments with new coinage, at that time the practice of using dies with Martha Washington for trial strikings began, since they would not be confused with real circulating money. Because they do not resemble money, no restrictions exist on the sale of Martha Washington pieces, mint-produced modern patterns are very rare, with only a few pieces existing in private collections
11.
United States Mint
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The United States Mint produces circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money, the Mint was created in Philadelphia in 1792, and soon joined by other centres, whose coins were identified by their own mint marks. There are currently four active coin-producing mints, Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, the Mint was created by Congress with the Coinage Act of 1792, and originally placed within the Department of State. Per the terms of the Coinage Act, the first Mint building was in Philadelphia, then the capital of the United States, today, the Mints headquarters are in Washington D. C. It operates mint facilities in Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, and West Point, New York and a bullion depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Official Mints were once located in Carson City, Nevada, Charlotte, North Carolina, Dahlonega, Georgia, New Orleans, Louisiana, Washington, D. C. and even in Manila. Originally part of the State Department, the Mint was made an independent agency in 1799 and it converted precious metals into standard coin for anyones account with no seigniorage charge beyond the refining costs. Under the Coinage Act of 1873, the Mint became part of the Department of the Treasury and it was placed under the auspices of the Treasurer of the United States in 1981. Legal tender coins of today are minted solely for the Treasurys account, the first Director of the United States Mint was renowned scientist David Rittenhouse from 1792 to 1795. The position was held most recently by Edmund C, moy until his resignation effective January 9,2011. Henry Voigt was the first Superintendent and Chief Coiner, and is credited with some of the first U. S. coin designs. Another important position at the Mint is that of Chief Engraver, the Mint has operated several branch facilities throughout the United States since the Philadelphia Mint opened in 1792, in a building known as Ye Olde Mint. With the opening of branch mints came the need for mint marks, the first of these branch mints were the Charlotte, North Carolina, Dahlonega, Georgia, and New Orleans, Louisiana branches. Both the Charlotte and Dahlonega Mints were opened to facilitate the conversion of gold deposits into coinage. The Civil War closed both these facilities permanently, the New Orleans Mint closed at the beginning of the Civil War and did not re-open until the end of Reconstruction in 1879. During its two stints as a facility, it produced both gold and silver coinage in eleven different denominations, though only ten denominations were ever minted there at one time. A new branch facility was opened in Carson City, Nevada, in 1870, it operated until 1893, like the Charlotte and Dahlonega branches, the Carson City Mint was opened to take advantage of local precious metal deposits, in this case, a large vein of silver. Though gold coins were produced there, no base metal coins were
12.
Eagle (United States coin)
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The eagle is a base-unit of denomination issued only for gold coinage by the United States Mint based on the original values designated by the Coinage Act of 1792. It has been obsolete as a circulating denomination since 1933, the eagle was the largest of the four main decimal base-units of denomination used for circulating coinage in the United States prior to 1933, the year when gold was withdrawn from circulation. These four main base-units of denomination were the cent, the dime, the dollar, and the eagle, where a dime is 10 cents, a dollar is 10 dimes, and an eagle is 10 dollars. The eagle base-unit of denomination served as the basis of the gold quarter-eagle, the gold half-eagle, the eagle, in this regard the United States followed long-standing European practice of different base-unit denominations for different precious and semi-precious metals. In the United States, the cent was the base-unit of denomination in copper, the dime and dollar were the base-units of denomination in silver. The eagle was the base-unit of denomination in gold although, unlike cent, dime, thus, a double eagle showed its value as twenty dollars rather than two eagles. The diameter of eagles was 27 mm, half eagles 21 mm, quarter eagles 17 mm, originally the purity of all circulating gold coins in the United States was eleven twelfths pure gold and one twelfth alloy. Under U. S. law, the alloy was composed only of silver and copper, thus, U. S. gold coins had 22/24 pure gold, at most 1/24 silver, with the remaining one–two 24ths copper. The weight of circulating, standard gold, eagles was set at 270 grains, half eagles at 135 grains and this resulted in the eagle containing 0.5156 troy ounces of pure gold. S gold coins. As a result, the specification for standard gold was lowered from 22 karat to.8992 fine. In 1837 a small change in the fineness of the gold was made, the new 1837 standard for the eagle was 258 grains of.900 fine gold, with other coins proportionately sized. Between 1838 and 1840, the content was reduced to zero—the eagle in 1838, half eagle in 1839. Using only copper as the alloy in gold coins matched long standing English practice, the 1837 standard resulted in a gold content of only 0.9675 troy ounces of gold per double eagle and 0.48375 troy ounces for the eagle. It would be used for all circulating gold coins until U. S. gold coin circulation was halted in 1933, as part of its Modern United States commemorative coins program the United States mint has issued several commemorative eagle coins. In 1984, an eagle was issued to commemorate the Summer Olympics, the pre-1933.900 fine gold standard was restored, this would also be used in half-eagle gold commemoratives as well. The coins would be identical in fineness and size to their counterparts of the same face value
13.
California Gold Rush
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The California Gold Rush began on January 24,1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutters Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States, the Gold Rush initiated the California Genocide, with 100,000 Native Californians dying between 1848 and 1868. By the time it ended, California had gone from a thinly populated ex-Mexican territory to the state of the first nominee for the Republican Party. The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial, whole indigenous societies were attacked and pushed off their lands by the gold-seekers, called forty-niners. The first to hear confirmed information of the rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands, and Latin America. While most of the newly arrived were Americans, the Gold Rush attracted tens of thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia, agriculture and ranching expanded throughout the state to meet the needs of the settlers. San Francisco grew from a settlement of about 200 residents in 1846 to a boomtown of about 36,000 by 1852. Roads, churches, schools and other towns were built throughout California, in 1849 a state constitution was written. The new constitution was adopted by vote, and the future states interim first governor. In September,1850, California became a state, at the beginning of the Gold Rush, there was no law regarding property rights in the goldfields and a system of staking claims was developed. Prospectors retrieved the gold from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, although the mining caused environmental harm, more sophisticated methods of gold recovery were developed and later adopted around the world. New methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service, by 1869 railroads were built across the country from California to the eastern United States. At its peak, technological advances reached a point where significant financing was required, Gold worth tens of billions of todays dollars was recovered, which led to great wealth for a few. However, many returned home with more than they had started with. The Mexican–American War ended on February 3,1848, although California was firmly in American hands before that, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided for, among other things, the formal transfer of Upper California to the United States. The California Gold Rush began at Sutters Mill, near Coloma, on January 24,1848, James W. Marshall, a foreman working for Sacramento pioneer John Sutter, found shiny metal in the tailrace of a lumber mill Marshall was building for Sutter on the American River. Marshall brought what he found to John Sutter, and the two tested the metal. However, rumors started to spread and were confirmed in March 1848 by San Francisco newspaper publisher
14.
Gold dollar
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The gold dollar or gold one-dollar piece is a gold coin that was struck as a regular issue by the United States Bureau of the Mint from 1849 to 1889. The coin had three types over its lifetime, all designed by Mint Chief Engraver James B, the Type 1 issue has the smallest diameter of any United States coin minted to date. A gold dollar coin had been proposed several times in the 1830s and 1840s, Congress was finally galvanized into action by the increased supply of bullion caused by the California gold rush, and in 1849 authorized a gold dollar. In its early years, silver coins were being hoarded or exported, Gold did not again circulate in most of the nation until 1879, once it did, the gold dollar did not regain its place. In its final years, it was struck in small numbers and it was also in demand to be mounted in jewelry. The regular issue gold dollar was last struck in 1889, the following year, Congress followed Hamiltons recommendation only in part, authorizing a silver dollar, but no coin of that denomination in gold. In 1831, the first gold dollar was minted, at the mint of Christopher Bechtler in North Carolina. Additional one-dollar pieces were struck by August Bechtler, Christophers son and he was opposed by the Mint Director, Robert M. Patterson. Woodbury persuaded President Andrew Jackson to have pattern coins struck, in response, Patterson had Mint Second Engraver Christian Gobrecht break off work on the new design for the silver one-dollar coin and work on a pattern for the gold dollar. Gobrechts design featured a Liberty cap surrounded by rays on one side, and a palm branch arranged in a circle with the denomination, date, consideration was given to including the gold dollar as an authorized denomination in the revisionary legislation that became the Mint Act of 1837. Nevertheless, after Mint Director Patterson appeared before a congressional committee, in January 1844, North Carolina Representative James Iver McKay, the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, solicited the views of Director Patterson on the gold dollar. Patterson had more of Gobrechts pattern dollar struck to show to committee members and he told Treasury Secretary John C. Spencer that the gold coins of that size in commerce. This seemed to satisfy the committee as nothing more was done for the time, even before 1848, record amounts of gold were flowing to American mints to be struck into coin, but the California Gold Rush vastly increased these quantities. This renewed calls for a dollar, as well as for a higher denomination than the eagle. In January 1849, McKay introduced a bill for a gold dollar, there was much discussion in the press about the proposed coin, one newspaper published a proposal for an annular gold dollar, that is, with a hole in the middle to increase its small diameter. Nevertheless, Gobrechts successor as chief engraver, James B, Longacre, prepared patterns, including some with a square hole in the middle. McKay introduced a version into the House on February 20, debate began the same day, McKay did not respond substantively, but stated that if no one wanted these denominations, they would not be called for at the Mint, and would not be coined
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Double eagle
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A double eagle is a gold coin of the United States with a denomination of $20. The coins are made from a 90% gold and 10% copper alloy and have a weight of 1.0750 troy ounces. The eagle, half eagle, and quarter eagle were specifically given these names in the Act of Congress that originally authorized them, likewise, the double eagle was specifically created as such by name. The first double eagle was minted in 1849, coinciding with the California Gold Rush, in that year, the mint produced two pieces in proof. The first resides in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C, the second was presented to Treasury Secretary William M. Meredith and was later sold as part of his estate—the present location of this coin remains unknown. In 1850, regular production began and continued until 1933, prior to 1850, eagles with a denomination of $10 were the largest denomination of US coin. The $10 eagles were produced beginning in 1795, just two years after the first U. S. mint opened, since the $20 gold piece had twice the value of the eagle, these coins were designated double eagles. In 1866, the motto In God We Trust was added to the liberty coronet double eagle, in 1877, the coins denomination design on the reverse was changed from twenty D to twenty dollars creating a third and final subtype for the series. An 1879 pattern coin was made for the quintuple stella using a design combining features of the liberty head double eagle and stella pattern coin, however this coin was stolen in July 2008. The Saint-Gaudens double eagle is named for the designer, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, theodore Roosevelt imposed upon him in his last few years to redesign the nations coinage at the beginning of the 20th century. Saint-Gaudens work on the high-relief $20 gold piece is considered to be one of the most extraordinary pieces of art on any American coin. The mint eventually insisted on a version, as the high-relief coin took up to eleven strikes to bring up the details. Only 12,367 of these coins were struck in 1907 and these coins easily top the $10,000 price in circulated grades, but can reach nearly a half million dollars in the best states of preservation. There were several changes in the years of this design. The first coins issued in 1907 design featured a date in Roman numerals, the motto In God We Trust was omitted from the initial design, as Roosevelt felt that putting the name of God on money that could be used for immoral purposes was inappropriate. By act of Congress, the motto was added in mid-1908, the design of the Saint-Gaudens coin was slightly changed once more when New Mexico and Arizona became states in 1912, and the number of stars along the rim was accordingly increased from 46 to 48. Double eagles were routinely minted through 1933, although few of the very last years coinages were released before the recall legislation of that year. Accordingly, these issues bring very high prices, the Saint-Gaudens obverse design was reused in the American eagle gold bullion coins that were instituted in 1986
16.
National Numismatic Collection
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The National Numismatic Collection is the national coin cabinet of the United States. The collection is part of the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of American History, the National Numismatic Collection is one of the worlds largest collections of coins, paper currency, exonumia and related items. In total the collection contains over 1.6 million objects, including 450,000 coins, medals, as of 2004, the exhibit housing the Collection was the last surviving exhibit from the Smithsonian Museum of American Historys original 1964 arrangement. In late 2004, the exhibit was closed, and the Collection returned to the Smithsonians vaults, only a few dozen of the Collections most notable specimens remain on display today. S
17.
Smithsonian Institution
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The Smithsonian Institution, established in 1846 for the increase and diffusion of knowledge, is a group of museums and research centers administered by the Government of the United States. Originally organized as the United States National Museum, that ceased to exist as an administrative entity in 1967. Additional facilities are located in Arizona, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York City, Texas, Virginia, more than 200 institutions and museums in 45 states, Puerto Rico, and Panama are Smithsonian Affiliates. The Institutions thirty million annual visitors are admitted without charge and its annual budget is around $1.2 billion with 2/3 coming from annual federal appropriations. Other funding comes from the Institutions endowment, private and corporate contributions, membership dues, and earned retail, concession, Institution publications include Smithsonian and Air & Space magazines. The British scientist James Smithson left most of his wealth to his nephew Henry James Hungerford, Congress officially accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation, and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust on July 1,1836. The American diplomat Richard Rush was dispatched to England by President Andrew Jackson to collect the bequest, Rush returned in August 1838 with 105 sacks containing 104,960 gold sovereigns. Once the money was in hand, eight years of Congressional haggling ensued over how to interpret Smithsons rather vague mandate for the increase, unfortunately, the money was invested by the US Treasury in bonds issued by the state of Arkansas which soon defaulted. The United States Exploring Expedition by the U. S. Navy circumnavigated the globe between 1838 and 1842, in 1846, the regents developed a plan for weather observation, in 1847, money was appropriated for meteorological research. The Institution became a magnet for young scientists from 1857 to 1866, the Smithsonian played a critical role as the U. S. partner institution in early bilateral scientific exchanges with the Academy of Sciences of Cuba. The Smithsonian Institution Building began construction in 1849, designed by architect James Renwick Jr. its interiors were completed by general contract Gilbert Cameron and the building opened in 1855. The Smithsonians first expansion came with construction of the Arts and Industries Building in 1881, Congress had promised to build a new structure for the museum if the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition generated enough income. It did, and the building was designed by architects Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze, meigs of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The National Zoological Park opened in 1889 to accommodate the Smithsonians Department of Living Animals and this structure was designed by the D. C. architectural firm of Hornblower & Marshall. More than 40 years would pass before the museum, the Museum of History. It was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White. That same year, the Smithsonian signed an agreement to take over the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration, the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum opened in the Old Patent Office Building on October 7,1968. The first new building to open since the National Museum of Natural History was the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
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Saint-Gaudens double eagle
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The Saint-Gaudens double eagle is a twenty-dollar gold coin, or double eagle, produced by the United States Mint from 1907 to 1933. The coin is named after its designer, the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and it is considered by many to be the most beautiful of U. S. coins. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt sought to beautify American coinage, although the sculptor had poor experiences with the Mint and its chief engraver, Charles E. Barber, Saint-Gaudens accepted Roosevelts call. The work was subject to delays, due to Saint-Gaudenss declining health. Saint-Gaudens died in 1907, after designing the eagle and double eagle, after several versions of the design for the double eagle proved too difficult to strike, Barber modified Saint-Gaudenss design, lowering the relief so the coin could be struck with only one blow. When the coins were released, they proved controversial as they lacked the words In God We Trust. The coin was minted, primarily for use in international trade, the 1933 double eagle is among the most valuable of U. S. coins, with the sole example currently known to be in private hands selling in 2002 for $7,590,020. The resulting Liberty Head double eagle, designed by Mint Engraver James Longacre, was struck for the remainder of the 19th century, though the design was modified several times. In the West, where gold or silver coins were preferred to paper money—use of which was illegal in California in the aftermath of the Gold Rush—the coins saw some circulation. Sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudenss first association with the Mint was in 1891, the Mint had offered only a small prize to the winner, and all invited artists refused to submit entries. The competition was open to the public, and the committee found no entry suitable. Barber, who had been Chief Engraver since 1879, felt that Saint-Gaudens overstated the case, in 1892, Saint-Gaudens was asked to design the official medal of the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, it would be presented to prizewinning exhibitors. The exposition directors hastily withdrew the reverse design and replaced it with one created by Barber which, a furious Saint-Gaudens swore to have nothing more to do with the Mint or its employees, and for the next decade refused all commissions which might involve him with that bureau. Would it be possible, without asking permission of Congress, to employ a man like Saint-Gaudens to give us a coinage which would have some beauty. Roosevelt had Mint Director George E. Roberts write to Saint-Gaudens and it will I assure you give me great pleasure to assist in the procuring of good work. Roosevelt caused the Mint to engage Saint-Gaudens to redesign some of the coins which could be changed without the need for Congressional approval—the cent, no U. S. coin had ever been designed by anyone other than a Mint employee. In November 1905, Roosevelt wrote to Saint-Gaudens to enquire how the coinage was progressing. The President mentioned that he had been looking at gold coins of Ancient Greece, Roosevelt suggested that the new designs could be in high relief, with a high rim to protect them
19.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt, commonly known as FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A Democrat, he won a record four presidential elections and emerged as a figure in world events during the mid-20th century. He directed the United States government during most of the Great Depression and he is often rated by scholars as one of the three greatest U. S. Presidents, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Roosevelt was born in 1882 to an old, prominent Dutch family from Dutchess County and he attended the elite educational institutions of Groton School, Harvard College, and Columbia Law School. At age 23 in 1905, he married Eleanor Roosevelt, and he entered politics in 1910, serving in the New York State Senate, and then as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson. In 1920, Roosevelt was presidential candidate James M. Coxs running mate and he was in office from 1929 to 1933 and served as a reform governor, promoting the enactment of programs to combat the depression besetting the United States at the time. In the 1932 presidential election, Roosevelt defeated incumbent Republican president Herbert Hoover in a landslide to win the presidency, Roosevelt took office while in the United States was in the midst of the worst economic crisis in its history. Energized by his victory over polio, FDR relied on his persistent optimism and activism to renew the national spirit. He created numerous programs to support the unemployed and farmers, and to labor union growth while more closely regulating business. His support for the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 added to his popularity, the economy improved rapidly from 1933–37, but then relapsed into a deep recession in 1937–38. The bipartisan Conservative Coalition that formed in 1937 prevented his packing the Supreme Court, when the war began and unemployment ended, conservatives in Congress repealed the two major relief programs, the WPA and CCC. However, they kept most of the regulations on business, along with several smaller programs, major surviving programs include the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Wagner Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Social Security. His goal was to make America the Arsenal of Democracy, which would supply munitions to the Allies, in March 1941, Roosevelt, with Congressional approval, provided Lend-Lease aid to Britain and China. He supervised the mobilization of the U. S. economy to support the war effort, as an active military leader, Roosevelt implemented a war strategy on two fronts that ended in the defeat of the Axis Powers and initiate the development of the worlds first atomic bomb. His work also influenced the creation of the United Nations. Roosevelts physical health declined during the war years, and he died 11 weeks into his fourth term. One of the oldest Dutch families in New York State, the Roosevelts distinguished themselves in other than politics. One ancestor, Isaac Roosevelt, had served with the New York militia during the American Revolution, Roosevelt attended events of the New York society Sons of the American Revolution, and joined the organization while he was president
20.
Half eagle
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The Half Eagle is a United States coin that was produced for circulation from 1795 to 1929 and in commemorative and bullion coins since the 1980s. Composed almost entirely of gold, it has a value of five dollars. Its production was authorized by The Act of April 2,1792, the design and composition of the half eagle changed many times over the years, but it was originally designed by Robert Scot. At this time the coin contained.9167 gold and.0833 copper and silver and it had a diameter of approximately 25 mm, a weight of 8.75 grams, and a reeded edge. The obverse design, or Turban Head, depicted a portrait of Liberty facing to the right. The reverse depicted a small eagle and this type was produced from 1795 to 1798. Simultaneously, another type was minted that depicted a larger heraldic eagle on the reverse with the inscription E PLURIBUS UNUM and this type was produced through 1807. From 1807 to 1812, a new designed by John Reich was produced, the Draped Bust, featuring a round-capped Liberty facing left on the obverse. For the first time, the value 5 D. was placed on the reverse of the coin to indicate its value, in 1813 a modified version of the Draped Bust was introduced, removing much of the bustline and giving Liberty an overall larger appearance. This design which would last through 1834, another modification occurred in 1829 when the diameter of the coin was reduced slightly to 23.8 mm, although the overall design remained unchanged. By 1834, the gold in the eagle had been worth more than its face value for several years. The Act of June 28,1834 called for a reduction in the gold used. The weight of the coin was reduced to 8.36 grams, the reduced to 22.5 mm. A new obverse, the Classic Head, was created by William Kneass for the altered coin, the reverse still depicted the modified eagle introduced in 1813, but E PLURIBUS UNUM was removed to distinguish further the new composition. In 1837, the content of this type was increased to.900 in accordance with the Act of January 18,1837. In 1839 the coin was redesigned again, the new obverse was designed by Christian Gobrecht and is known as the Liberty Head or Coronet head. The reverse design remained largely the same, although the value was changed from 5 D. to Five D, for those struck at the Philidephia Mint, there was no longer any silver in the coin, its composition was now.900 gold and.100 copper. However, gold ore used at the branch mints of Charlotte and Dahlonega had a high natural silver content
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Quarter eagle
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The quarter eagle was a gold coin issued by the United States with a denomination of two hundred and fifty cents, or two dollars and fifty cents. It was given its name in the Coinage Act of 1792 and its purchasing power in 1800 would be equivalent to $71.12 in 2015 dollars. Designed by Robert Scot, the quarter eagle denomination was struck at the mint at Philadelphia, and branch mints in Charlotte, New Orleans. The first issues weighed 67.5 grains, fineness.9167, until the weight was modified to 64.5 grains, the Act of January 18,1837 established a fineness of.900. This means that 1837 and later quarter eagles contain 0.121 Troy Oz. of gold content, as relatively fewer coins were struck prior to 1834, combined with their higher gold content, all of the early issues range from scarce to rare. The first issues were struck in 1796, any proof date prior to 1856 is rare, and will command a premium in any condition. The quarter eagle denomination was discontinued in 1933 with the removal of the United States from the Gold Standard. Also known as the Turban Head, this interpretation of Liberty wearing a cap was designed by Robert Scot and was minted from 1796 to 1807. There were three varieties of this design, first came the Capped Bust facing right variety. There were two variations of design, no stars on the obverse, and stars on the obverse. The no stars variety was produced only in 1796, replaced with the stars, in 1808, Liberty was redesigned by John Reich, to be wearing more of a traditional cap rather than a turban. This design was minted for 1808 only, but in 1821 the mint reinstated the quarter eagle and it was produced again until 1827, in 1829, the quarter eagle was reduced in size again to 18.2 mm, and featured smaller letters and stars. This version of the design was produced until 1834, the Classic Head variety was designed by William Kneass, which featured a traditional maiden with a ribbon binding her long, curly hair. This variety omitted E pluribus unum from the reverse of the coin, in 1840, a coronet and smaller head were designed to conform with the appearance of the larger gold coins, therefore making the Classic Head design obsolete. The Classic Head design was produced from 1834 to 1839, also known as the Coronet Head, the Liberty head was designed to match the styles of the other gold Eagles the government was producing. The Liberty Head design was created by Christian Gobrecht and was produced successfully from 1840 to 1907, like its predecessor, this variety omitted E Pluribus Unum from the reverse. One notable date is 1848, when 230 ounces of gold were sent to the Secretary of War Marcy by Colonel R. B. Mason, the gold was turned over to the mint and promptly made into quarter eagles. The distinguishing mark CAL. was punched above the eagle on the reverse side of the coin
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Director of the United States Mint
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The Director of the United States Mint is the head of the United States Mint. Since January 20,2017, the senior official at the Mint has been Acting Principal Deputy Director David Motl. The office of Director has existed since the creation of the Mint by the Coinage Act of 1792, initially appointed serving at the pleasure of the President of the United States, the Coinage Act of 1873 specified a five-year term for Directors. The Director operates with general directions provided by the United States Secretary of the Treasury
23.
Elias Boudinot
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Elias Boudinot was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress and served as President of Congress from 1782 to 1783. Congressman for New Jersey following the American Revolutionary War and he was appointed by President George Washington as Director of the United States Mint, serving from 1795 until 1805. Elias Boudinot was born in Philadelphia on May 2,1740 and his father, Elias Boudinot III, was a merchant and silversmith, he was a neighbor and friend of Benjamin Franklin. His mother, Mary Catherine Williams, was born in the British West Indies, Elias paternal grandfather, Elie Boudinot, was the son of Jean Boudinot and Marie Suire of Marans, Aunis, France. They were a Huguenot family who fled to New York about 1687 to avoid the religious persecutions of King Louis XIV, Mary Catherine Williams and Elias Boudinot, Sr. were married on August 8,1729. Over the next twenty years, they had nine children, the first, John, was born in the British West Indies-Antigua. Of the others, only the younger Elias and his siblings Annis, Mary, Annis became one of the first published women poets in the Thirteen Colonies, and her work appeared in leading newspapers and magazines. Elisha Boudinot became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, after studying and being tutored at home, Elias Boudinot went to Princeton, New Jersey to read the law as a legal apprentice to Richard Stockton. An attorney, he had married Elias older sister Annis Boudinot, Richard Stockton was later a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. In 1760, Boudinot was admitted to the bar, and began his practice in Elizabeth and he owned land adjacent to the road from Elizabethtown to Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. After getting established, on April 21,1762, Boudinot married Hannah Stockton and they had two children, Maria Boudinot, who died at age two, and Susan Vergereau Boudinot. Susan married William Bradford, who became Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, after her husbands death in 1795, Susan Boudinot Bradford returned to her parents home to live. The young widow edited her fathers papers, now held by Princeton University, these provide significant insight into the events of the Revolutionary era. In 1805, Elias, Hannah and Susan moved to a new home in Burlington, Hannah died a few years after their move, and Elias lived there for the remainder of his years. In his later years, Boudinot invested and speculated in land and he owned large tracts in Ohio including most of Green Township in what is now the western suburbs of Cincinnati, where there is a street bearing his surname. At his death, he willed 13,000 acres to the city of Philadelphia for parks and he was buried in the churchyard of St. Marys Church, Burlington, New Jersey. Boudinot became a prominent lawyer and his practice prospered, as the revolution drew near, he aligned with the Whigs, and was elected to the New Jersey provincial assembly in 1775. In the early stages of the Revolutionary War, he was active in promoting enlistment, Boudinot helped support the activities of rebel spies
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Christian Gobrecht
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Christian Gobrecht was the third Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1840 until his death in 1844. He was responsible for designing the famous Seated Liberty designs, which were in turn the inspiration for the design of the Trade Dollar. He also designed the Gobrecht Dollar, which was struck in small quantities from 1836 to 1838, Gobrecht was born on December 23,1785, in Hanover, Pennsylvania, to Reverend John C. Gobrecht, who came to America from Germany in 1755, and Elizabeth Sands and he invented a medal ruling machine in 1810, which he improved upon in 1817. In 1823, Mint Director Robert Patterson sought to engage Gobrecht as assistant director, instead, in December, Gobrecht sought the position of chief engraver of the Mint, writing to President James Monroe. Instead, the position went to William Kneass, there is extant documentation showing that Gobrecht worked for the Mint as early as 1823 immediately upon the death of the first chief engraver Robert Scot. This was only an appointment until a new chief engraver William Kneass was hired in January 1824. He also engraved and sold letter and numeral punches to the Mint from this point forward and he became not an assistant but a Second engraver in September 1835 after Kneass suffered a debilitating stroke on August 27 of that year. After Kneass stroke, most all pattern and die work was done by Gobrecht from then on, including the Gobrecht Dollars, shortly after Kneass death in 1840, Gobrecht was appointed Chief Engraver of the U. S. Mint on December 21,1840. During his tenure of Chief Engraver of the Mint, Gobrecht produced perhaps what he is known for, the Seated Liberty dollar, based on sketches by Thomas Sully. That design remained on U. S. coinage as late as 1891 Gobrecht died in July 1844, additionally to engraving for the Mint, he also produced embossing plaque for bookbinding. New York, N. Y. Sanford J. Durst Numismatic Publications
25.
Public Ledger (Philadelphia)
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The Public Ledger was a daily newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania published from March 25,1836 to January 1942. Its motto was Virtue Liberty and Independence, for a time, it was Philadelphias most popular newspaper, but circulation declined in the mid-1930s. Founded by William Moseley Swain, Arunah S. Abell, and Azariah H. Simmons, and edited by Swain, at that time most papers sold for five cents or more, a relatively high price which limited their appeal to only the reasonably well-off. Swain and Abell drew on the success of the New York Herald, one of the first penny papers and they mimicked the Heralds use of bold headlines to draw sales. The formula was a success and the Ledger posted a circulation of 15,000 in 1840, to put this into perspective, the entire circulation of all newspapers in Philadelphia was estimated at only 8,000 when the Ledger was founded. The Ledger was an innovator as well. It was the first daily to use of a pony express. From 1846, it was printed on the first rotary printing press, by the early 1860s, The Ledger was a money-losing operation, squeezed by rising paper and printing costs. It had lost circulation by supporting the Copperhead Policy of opposing the American Civil War, in the face of declining circulation, publishers were reluctant to increase the one-cent subscription cost, although it was needed to cover the costs of production. In December 1864, the paper was sold to George William Childs, upon buying the paper, Childs completely changed its policy and methods. He changed the policy to the Loyalist line, raised advertising rates. After an initial drop, circulation rebounded and the paper resumed profitability, Childs was closely involved in all operations of the paper, from the press room to the composing room. He intentionally upgraded the quality of advertisements appearing in the publication to suit a higher-end readership, childss efforts bore fruit and the Ledger became one of the most influential journals in the country. Circulation growth led the firm to outgrow its facilities, in 1866 Childs bought property at Sixth and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia, where the Public Ledger Building was constructed. Designed by architect John McArthur, Jr. the building had at its corner a larger-than-life-sized statue of Benjamin Franklin by Joseph A. Bailly, the quality and profitability of the Ledger improved dramatically. By 1894, The New York Times described it as. the finest newspaper office in the country, toward the end of Childs leadership, the Ledger was estimated to generate profits of approximately $500,000 per year. In 1902, Adolph Ochs, owner of The New York Times and he merged it with the Philadelphia Times, and installed his brother George as editor. Oakes served as editor until 1914, two years after Curtis bought the publication, in 1913, Cyrus H. K. Curtis purchased the paper from Ochs for $2 million and hired his step son-in-law John Charles Martin as editor
26.
Whig Party (United States)
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The Whig Party was a political party active in the middle of the 19th century in the United States. Four US presidents belonged to the party while in office and it emerged in the 1830s as the immediate successor to the National Republican and Anti-Masonic Parties, and was also rooted in the tradition of the Federalist Party. Along with the rival Democratic Party, it was central to the Second Party System from the early 1840s to the mid-1860s and it originally formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic Party. In particular, the Whigs supported the supremacy of the US Congress over the Presidency and favored a program of modernization, banking and it appealed to entrepreneurs, planters, reformers and the emerging urban middle class, but had little appeal to farmers or unskilled workers. It included many active Protestants, and voiced a moralistic opposition to the Jacksonian Indian removal, Party founders chose the Whig name to echo the American Whigs of the 18th century who fought for independence. The underlying political philosophy of the American Whig Party was not directly related to the British Whig party, the Whig Party nominated several presidential candidates in 1836. General William Henry Harrison of Ohio was nominated in 1840, former Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky in 1844, another war hero, General Winfield Scott of New Jersey was the Whig Partys last presidential nominee, in 1852. In its two decades of existence, the Whig Party had two of its candidates, Harrison and Taylor, elected president, John Tyler succeeded to the presidency after Harrisons death in 1841, but was expelled from the party later that year. Millard Fillmore, who became president after Taylors death in 1850, was the last Whig president, the party fell apart because of the internal tension over the expansion of slavery to the territories. Most Whig Party leaders eventually quit politics or changed parties, the northern voter base mostly gravitated to the new Republican Party. In the South, most joined the Know Nothing Party, which unsuccessfully ran Fillmore in the 1856 presidential election, the Constitutional Union Party experienced significant success from conservative former Whigs in the Upper South during the 1860 presidential election. Whig ideology as a policy orientation persisted for decades and played a role in shaping the modernizing policies of the state governments during Reconstruction. The name Whig derived from a term that Patriots used to refer to themselves during the American Revolution and it indicated hostility to the British Sovereign, and despite the identical name, did not directly derive from the British Whig Party. The American Whigs were modernizers who saw President Andrew Jackson as a man on horseback with a reactionary opposition to the forces of social, economic. Casting their enemy as King Andrew, they sought to identify themselves as opponents of governmental overreaching. Despite the apparent unity of Jeffersons Democratic-Republicans from 1800 to 1824, as Jackson purged his opponents, vetoed internal improvements, and killed the Second Bank of the United States, alarmed local elites fought back. In 1831, Henry Clay re-entered the Senate and started planning a new party and he defended national rather than sectional interests. His Jacksonian opponents, however, distrusted the government and opposed all federal aid for internal improvements
27.
Charles G. Atherton
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Charles Gordon Atherton was a Democratic Representative and Senator from New Hampshire. The son of Charles Humphrey Atherton and Mary Ann Toppan-Atherton, Charles G. Atherton was born in Amherst and he was tutored in the classics by the inventor Samuel Abbot, and graduated from Harvard University in 1822 where he studied law. After graduation, Atherton was admitted to the bar in 1825 and commenced practice in Dunstable and he married Ann Clark in 1828. Atherton was elected as a member of the State house of representatives in 1830 and 1833–1835 and he was Elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-fifth United States Congress and the two succeeding Congresses and did not seek reelection in 1842, having become a candidate for Senator. After winning his bid, Atherton was elected to the United States Senate as a Democrat in 1843. While in the Senate, Atherton served as Chairman of the Committee on Printing, the Committee on Roads and Canals, and the Committee on Finance. After leaving the Senate, Atherton resumed the practice of law in Nashua but was elected to the United States Senate in 1852 for the term beginning 4 March 1853. He took the oath of office on 4 March 1853, and served until he suffered a stroke while attending court and died in Manchester and he is interred in Nashua Cemetery, Nashua, New Hampshire. He was a States-rights Democrat from a northern State of New England and he presented his five resolutions on December 11,1838. Congress approved them on December 12,1838, several similar laws were approved by Congress from 1835 to 1840, but the Atherton Gag was the only one of them to be named after its creator. Of the five resolutions, the last one is most indicative of his desires since it contains the vital stipulations, biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Charles G. Atherton at Find a Grave U. S, archives Keyword, Tuesday, December 11,1838 Search at 25th Congress, 3rd session, United States House of Representatives
28.
United States Senate Committee on Finance
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The U. S. Senate Committee on Finance is a standing committee of the United States Senate. It is considered to be one of the most powerful committees in Congress, the Committee on Finance is one of the original committees established in the Senate. On December 10,1816 the Senate officially created the Committee on Finance as a standing committee, originally, the Committee had power over tariffs, taxation, banking and currency issues and appropriations. Under this authority the committee played a role in the most heated topics of the era, including numerous tariffs issues. The committee was influential in the creation of the Department of Interior in 1849. Under the Chairmanship of William Pitt Fessenden, the played a decisive role during the Civil War. Appropriating all funds for the war effort as well as raising funds to finance the war through tariffs. Additionally, the committee produced the Legal Tender Act of 1862, in 1865 the House of Representatives created an Appropriations Committee to relieve the burden from the Committee on Ways and Means. The Senate followed this example by forming the Appropriations Committee in 1867, despite the loss of one of its signature duties the committee continued to play a prominent role in the major issues of the nation. The committee was at the center of the debate over the question in the latter half of the 19th Century. Passage of the Bland-Allison Act and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act were attempts to remedy the demand for silver, the committee also continued to play a role in the debate over income taxes. The repeal of the Civil War income taxes in the 1870s would eventually be raised in 1894 with the passage of a new tax law. The Supreme Courts decision in Pollock v. Farmers Loan and Trust Company ruled the income tax as unconstitutional, the fight for an income tax finally culminated with the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act of 1909. In order to pass the new tariff Senate leaders, including Chairman Nelson Aldrich, four years later the 16th Amendment was officially ratified and in 1913 the nations first peacetime income tax was instituted. Around that same time the committee lost jurisdiction over banking and currency issues to the newly created Committee on Banking, the committee did gain jurisdiction over veterans’ benefits when it successfully passed the War Risk Insurance Act of 1917. The act shifted pensions from gratuities to benefits and which served as one of the first life insurance programs created under the federal government, the Finance Committee continued to play an increasingly important role in the lives of the nations veterans. The committee helped to consolidate the veteran bureaucracy by streamlining the various responsibilities into a Veterans Bureau which ultimately would become the Veterans Administration, in 1924 the committee passed a Bonus Bill for World War I veterans which compensated veterans of that war for their service. These series of increasing and providing better benefits for veterans reached a crescendo in 1944 with the passage of the Servicemens Readjustment Act, senator Bennett Champ Clark, who served as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Veterans, assured smooth sailing of the bill through the Senate
29.
Joseph Ingersoll
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Joseph Reed Ingersoll was an American lawyer and statesman from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1835 he followed his father, Jared Ingersoll, and his brother, Charles Jared Ingersoll. He graduated from Princeton College in 1804 and he studied law with his father, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Philadelphia. He was elected in 1834 as a Whig anti-Jacksonian candidate to the Twenty-fourth Congress and he declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1836, serving 1835–1837. He resumed the practice of law, Ingersoll was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Sergeant. He was reelected as a Whig to the Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth and he declined to accept the nomination as a candidate for reelection in 1848. In all, his stay in office lasted from 1841 to 1849. He was the chairman of the United States House Committee on the Judiciary during the Thirtieth Congress and he was an advocate for protection and a firm supporter of Henry Clay. One of his efforts in the House was a defense of Clays tariff of 1842. In 1852, President Millard Fillmore sent him to the United Kingdom as the U. S. Minister and he served about a year, and then retired to private life, devoting himself to literary pursuits. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Lafayette and Bowdoin in 1836, and he died in Philadelphia in 1868. Interment in St. Peter’s Protestant Episcopal Churchyard. He was an adherent of the Union, and at the time of the American Civil War prepared an essay entitled “Secession, a Folly and a Crime. ”He published a translation from the Latin of Roceuss tracts “De Navibus et Naulo” and “De Assecuratione”. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, the Political Graveyard Attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Wilson, James Grant, Fiske, John, eds
30.
James K. Polk
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James Knox Polk was the 11th President of the United States. Polk was born in Pineville, North Carolina, and moved to Tennessee to study law, after building a successful law practice, he was elected to the Tennessee legislature and then to the United States House of Representatives in 1825. He left Congress to serve as Governor of Tennessee from 1839 to 1841, after losing re-election as governor in 1840, and losing in another gubernatorial election in 1842, Polk was a dark horse candidate for president in 1844. Though he entered the convention hoping to be nominated for vice president, in the general election, he defeated Henry Clay of the rival Whig Party in large part due to his promise to annex the Republic of Texas. True to his pledge to serve only one term as President, Polk left office in March 1849. He died of cholera three months later, scholars have ranked him favorably on lists of greatest presidents for his ability to promote, obtain support for, and achieve all of the major items on his presidential agenda. However, he has also criticized for leading the country into war against Mexico. Polk has been called the least known consequential president, James Knox Polk, the first of ten children, was born on November 2,1795 in a log house in what is now Pineville, North Carolina in Mecklenburg County, just outside Charlotte. His father, Samuel Polk, was a slaveholder, successful farmer and his mother, Jane Polk, was a descendant of a brother of the Scottish religious reformer John Knox. She named her firstborn after her father James Knox, like many early Scots-Irish settlers in the North Carolina mountains, the Knox and Polk families were Presbyterian. While Polks mother Jane remained a devout Presbyterian her entire life, when the parents took the young James to a Presbyterian church to be baptized, the father Samuel refused to declare his belief in Christianity, and the minister refused to baptize the child. In 1803, most of Polks relatives moved to the Duck River area in what is now Maury County, Middle Tennessee, the family grew prosperous, with Samuel Polk turning to land speculation and becoming a county judge. His health was problematic and in 1812 his pain became so unbearable that he was taken to Dr. Ephraim McDowell of Danville, Kentucky, Polk was awake during the operation with nothing but brandy available for anesthetic, but it was successful. The surgery may have left Polk sterile, as he did not sire any children, when Polk recovered, his father offered to bring him into the mercantile business, but Polk refused. In July 1813, Polk enrolled at the Zion Church near his home, a year later he attended an academy in Murfreesboro, where he may have met his future wife, Sarah Childress. At Murfreesboro, Polk proved a promising student, in January 1816, Polk was admitted into the University of North Carolina as a second-semester sophomore. The Polk family had connections with the university, then a school of about 80 students, Sam Polk was their land agent for Tennessee. While there, Polk joined the Dialectic Society where he took part in debates
31.
Franklin Peale
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Benjamin Franklin Peale, usually Franklin Peale, was an employee and officer of the Philadelphia Mint from 1833 to 1854. Although Peale introduced many innovations to the Mint of the United States, Peale was the son of painter Charles Willson Peale, and was born in the museum of curiosities that his father ran in Philadelphia. For the most part, Franklin Peales education was informal, though he took classes at the University of Pennsylvania. He became adept in machine making, in 1820, he became an assistant to his father at the museum, and managed it after Charles Peales death in 1827. In 1833, Peale was hired by the Mint, and was sent for two years to Europe to study and report back on coining techniques and he returned with plans for improvement, and designed the first steam-powered coinage press in the United States, installed in 1836. Peale was made Melter and Refiner of the Philadelphia Mint that year, eckfeldts labor allowed Peale to run a medal business using Mint property. This sideline eventually caused Peales downfall, conflicts with Engraver James B, Longacre and Melter and Refiner Richard Sears McCulloh led to Peale being accused of misconduct, and he was dismissed by President Franklin Pierce in 1854. In retirement, Peale continued his involvement in and leadership of many civic organizations, David Bowers suggests that the facts of Peales career allow writers to draw very different conclusions about him. Benjamin Franklin Peale was born October 15,1795, to painter Charles Willson Peale and his second wife, as well as pursuing his art, Charles Peale ran a museum of curiosities housed in Philosophical Hall in Philadelphia, home of the American Philosophical Society. The boy was born in the quarters in the museum. He was given the name Aldrovand, after the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi, the father was a member of the American Philosophical Society, and in February 1796 brought his young son to a meeting, and asked the members to select another name for the child. They decided on Benjamin Franklin Peale, naming the boy after the Societys founder, Society legend holds that the boy was given the name while placed in the chair of the president of the Society, which had been donated by Franklin. Franklin Peale was one of sixteen children his father would have by his three wives, Elizabeth Peale died when Franklin was eight years old, but his father soon remarried, and the child was thereafter cared for by his stepmother. He was given little classroom education, though he did some time at a local school in nearby Bucks County, as well as at Germantown Academy. For the most part, his education was informal, as was usual in the Peale family, with the student given the means to study what interested him, in Franklin Peales case, he made toys as a boy, and surveyed his fathers farm near Germantown. Although he lacked the talent of some of his brothers, such as Titian Peale. At age 17, Peale began to work for the Delaware cotton factory of William Young, on the Brandywine River and he was an apt student, becoming adept as a turner, founder, and draftsman. He was tolerated in his desire for a career by his father
32.
John C. Calhoun
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John Caldwell Calhoun was an American statesman and political theorist from South Carolina, and the seventh Vice President of the United States from 1825 to 1832. He is remembered for defending slavery and for advancing the concept of minority rights in politics. He began his career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent of a strong national government. His beliefs and warnings heavily influenced the Souths secession from the Union in 1860–1861, Calhoun began his political career in the House of Representatives. He then served as Secretary of War under President James Monroe, Calhoun was a candidate for the presidency in the 1824 election. After failing to support, he let his name be put forth as a candidate for vice president. The Electoral College elected Calhoun for vice president by an overwhelming majority and he served under John Quincy Adams and continued under Andrew Jackson, who defeated Adams in the election of 1828. During his terms as president, he made a record of 31 tie-breaking votes in Congress. Calhoun had a relationship with Jackson primarily due to the Nullification Crisis. In 1832, with only a few remaining in his second term, he resigned as vice president. He sought the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1844, but lost to surprise nominee James K. Polk, Calhoun served as Secretary of State under John Tyler from 1844 to 1845. As Secretary of State, he supported the annexation of Texas as a means to extend the slave power and he then returned to the Senate, where he opposed the Mexican–American War, the Wilmot Proviso, and the Compromise of 1850 before his death in 1850. Calhoun often served as a virtual party-independent who variously aligned as needed with Democrats, later in life, Calhoun became known as the cast-iron man for his rigid defense of Southern beliefs and practices. His concept of republicanism emphasized approval of slavery and minority rights, as embodied by the Southern states—he owned dozens of slaves in Fort Hill. Calhoun also asserted that slavery, rather than being an evil, was a positive good. To protect minority rights against majority rule, he called for a concurrent majority whereby the minority could sometimes block proposals that it infringed on their liberties. To this end, Calhoun supported states rights and nullification, through which states could declare null, Calhoun was one of the Great Triumvirate or the Immortal Trio of Congressional leaders, along with his Congressional colleagues Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. In 1957, a Senate Committee headed by Senator John F. Kennedy selected Calhoun as one of the five greatest United States Senators of all time
33.
Adam Eckfeldt
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John Adam Eckfeldt was a worker and official in the early days of the United States Mint. A lifelong Philadelphian, Eckfeldt served as the chief coiner of the Mint. Eckfeldts father owned a large smithy and involved himself in attempts at American coinage. He was appointed assistant coiner of the Mint in 1796, Eckfeldt served a quarter century as chief coiner, during which time the Philadelphia Mint moved to new premises. As he set aside unusual coins brought in as bullion, he started the Mints coin cabinet, even after his 1839 retirement, Eckfeldt continued to perform the duties of chief coiner, his death in 1852 caused his replacement, Franklin Peale, to seek an assistant. John Adam Eckfeldt was born in Philadelphia on June 15,1769, the son of John Jacob Eckfeldt, at the time, it was common for those of German descent to bear the name John but be referred to by middle name. The elder Eckfeldt and his wife Maria Magdalena had immigrated from Nuremberg, Bavaria, John Jacob Eckfeldt, in his large smithy, made dies for the 1783 coinage under the Articles of Confederation authorized by Philadelphia financier Robert Morris. Adam was his fathers apprentice, and was skilled in iron work, during Eckfeldts childhood, the thirteen British colonies along the Atlantic coast of what is now the United States revolted, and so the United States of America secured its independence. After the United States Constitution was ratified, Congress and many government offices came to be housed in Philadelphia and he also built other machinery for the Mint, and helped superintend the early coining. In 1792, the Mint acquired three balances from Eckfeldt, who lent the Mint his lathe. Other later accounts document Eckfeldts role in striking, an 1863 auction sold a half disme supposedly given by Eckfeldt to demonstrate his work. Eckfeldt is given as the source for the tradition that the half dismes were struck at the request of President George Washington to be used as presents, Eckfeldt operated his screw press to strike these roughly 1,500 pieces on July 13,1792. Since the first Philadelphia Mint was still under construction at the time, Eckfeldt also produced a pattern disme, of which only a few were struck. When the Mints first cents were found to be crude and attracted public ridicule. He placed a wreath on the back of the cent instead of the original chain and he also engraved the first half cent dies later the same year. By October 1795 he was on the payroll, as a die forger and turner. On January 1,1796, Mint Director Elias Boudinot appointed him as assistant coiner and his duties in that capacity were broad. In 1805, at Boudinots request, Eckfeldt eliminated a security problem for the Mint by renting two houses adjacent to its operations, allowing it to shut an internal alley to public access
34.
Lathe
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Lathes are used in woodturning, metalworking, metal spinning, thermal spraying, parts reclamation, and glass-working. Lathes can be used to shape pottery, the design being the potters wheel. Most suitably equipped metalworking lathes can also be used to produce most solids of revolution, plane surfaces, ornamental lathes can produce three-dimensional solids of incredible complexity. The workpiece is held in place by either one or two centers, at least one of which can typically be moved horizontally to accommodate varying workpiece lengths. Other work-holding methods include clamping the work about the axis of rotation using a chuck or collet, or to a faceplate, using clamps or dogs. Examples of objects that can be produced on a lathe include candlestick holders, gun barrels, cue sticks, table legs, bowls, baseball bats, musical instruments, crankshafts, and camshafts. The lathe is an ancient tool, dating at least to ancient Egypt and known to be used in Assyria, the lathe was very important to the Industrial Revolution. It is known as the mother of machine tools, as it was the first machine tool that lead to the invention of other machine tools, the origin of turning dates to around 1300 BCE when the Ancient Egyptians first developed a two-person lathe. One person would turn the work piece with a rope while the other used a sharp tool to cut shapes in the wood. Ancient Rome improved the Egyptian design with the addition of a turning bow, in the Middle Ages a pedal replaced hand-operated turning, allowing a single person to rotate the piece while working with both hands. The pedal was usually connected to a pole, often a straight-grained sapling, the system today is called the spring pole lathe. Spring pole lathes were in use into the early 20th century. An important early lathe in the UK was the boring machine that was installed in 1772 in the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich. It was horse-powered and allowed for the production of more accurate. One of the key characteristics of this machine was that the workpiece was turning as opposed to the tool, henry Maudslay who later developed many improvements to the lathe worked at the Royal Arsenal from 1783 being exposed to this machine in the Verbruggen workshop. During the Industrial Revolution, mechanized power generated by water wheels or steam engines was transmitted to the lathe via line shafting, allowing faster and easier work, metalworking lathes evolved into heavier machines with thicker, more rigid parts. Between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries, individual electric motors at each lathe replaced line shafting as the power source, today manually controlled and CNC lathes coexist in the manufacturing industries. A lathe may or may not have legs, which sit on the floor, a lathe may be small and sit on a workbench or table, not requiring a stand
35.
Electrotyping
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Electrotyping is a chemical method for forming metal parts that exactly reproduce a model. The method was invented by Moritz von Jacobi in Russia in 1838, in art, several important bronze sculptures created in the 19th century are actually electrotyped copper, and not bronze at all, sculptures were executed using electrotyping at least into the 1930s. In printing, electrotyping had become a method for producing plates for letterpress printing by the late 1800s. It complemented the older technology of stereotyping, which involved metal casting, by 1901, stereotypers and electrotypers in several countries had formed labor unions around these crafts. As with metal casting and stereotyping, a mold is first formed from the model, since electrotyping involves wet chemical processes and is done near room temperature, the molding material can be soft. Materials such as wax, gutta-percha, and ultimately ozokerite were used, the molds surface is made electrically conducting by coating it very thinly with fine graphite powder or paint. A wire is attached to the surface, and the mold is suspended in an electrolyte solution. Electrotyping is activated by electric currents flow between anode wires that are also immersed in the solution and the wire connected to the coated mold. For copper electrotyping, an aqueous electrolyte contains copper sulfate and sulfuric acid, and the anode is also copper. The electric current causes copper atoms to dissolve from the anodes surface, copper ions are taken up by the molds conducting surface at the same rate at which copper dissolves from the anode, thus completing the electrical circuit. When the copper layer on the mold grows to the desired thickness, the mold and its attached electrotype are removed from the solution, and the electrotype and the mold are separated. An animation of the process was produced in 2011 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Other metals besides copper can be electrotyped, similar procedures apply, there is a second type of electrotyping that has been used in which the copper film is deposited onto the outside of a form, and is not separated from it. In this use the form is typically waterproofed plaster, which remains as a core after electrotyping, in German this method is known as Kerngalvanoplastik, the more usual technique described in the previous paragraph is known as Hohlgalvanoplastik. Electrotyping is related to electroplating, which adds a thin metallic overlayer to a metallic object instead of creating a freestanding metal part. Electrotyping and electroforming both produce metal parts, but differ in technical details, electroforming involves the production of a metallic part around a metallic mandrel, although the term is sometimes used more broadly to encompass all electrodeposition processes. As noted above, electrotyping forms the part using a mold or form whose surface has been made conducting by applying a thin coating of graphite or metal powder. At present, most sources credit Moritz Hermann Jacobi with the invention of galvanoplasty or electrotyping in 1838, Jacobi was a Prussian scientist who was working in St. Petersburg, 19th-century accounts often credited Thomas Spencer or C. J
36.
Don Taxay
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Don Paul Taxay was an American numismatist and historian, known for the reference works he composed, and for his disappearance at the height of his career. Taxays first published work was Counterfeit, Mis-Struck and unofficial U. S. Coins, in 1963, followed by The U. S. Mint and Coinage in 1966, An Illustrated History of U. S. Commemorative Coinage in 1967, Money of the American Indians in 1970 and he also served as the curator of the Chase Manhattan Banks Money Museum. In 1974, he joined award-winning numismatist Harry Forman in establishing the coin dealership of Forman, Taxay, in approximately 1977, Taxay withdrew from society. In 2005-2006, the members of the Numismatic Bibliomania Societys mailing list undertook a joint research project to discover what had happened to Taxay. They established that Taxay had been introduced to Indian spirituality by Walter Breen, and that as a result, Taxay became a Rajneeshee and emigrated to India
37.
William M. Meredith
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For the Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, see William Morton Meredith. William Morris Meredith was an American lawyer and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and he served as the United States Secretary of the Treasury, during President Zachary Taylors Administration. During the year he was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar,1795, William Tuckey Meredith married the writer and poet Gertrude Gouverneur Meredith. Gertrude was the niece of Lewis Morris, as well as of Gouverneur Morris, the couple ultimately had eleven children. William Tuckey Meredith served on the Philadelphia Common and Select Councils and his brother Jonathan Meredith was a leader of the Bar in Baltimore, Maryland. William M. Meredith graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1812, after assisting his father in the familys saddlery business, he read law, and was himself admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar. After his mothers death in 1828, William Moore Meredith helped raise his younger siblings, on June 17,1834, at the age of 35 and after a ten-year engagement, Meredith married the former Catherine Keppele. They had one son and four daughters, Gertrude Gouverneur Meredith, Euphemia Ogden Meredith, Elizabeth Caldwell Meredith, Catherine Meredith also helped care for her husbands siblings, and his father when he was disabled by a stroke in 1839. Meredith was admitted to the bar in 1817, and began practicing law and he drew considerable public attention, as did his slightly senior colleague James C. Biddle, by questioning the conduct of Judge Frank Hallowell in Commonwealth v. Cook, during the jurys deliberation, the American Daily Advertiser published an article which defense counsel thought highly biased. Upon their release, they secured release of two of the prisoners in an appeal on double jeopardy grounds and this gained Meredith a reputation for fearlessness and inflexible honesty, and he was elected President of the Philadelphia Bar Association the following year. A Federalist, Meredith was then elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly, where he served in the minority for five years, from 1824 to 1828, the year of his mothers death. Meredith was president of the Philadelphia City Council from 1834 until 1849, Meredith also served as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 1841 to 1845. During that time, he prosecuted Alexander Holmes for manslaughter in the William Brown case, President Zachary Taylor, wanting a Pennsylvania Whig for his cabinet, appointed William M. Meredith to be the 19th Secretary of the Treasury. He began his term in office on March 8,1849, Meredith strongly opposed the free trade legislation passed the year before under his predecessor Robert J. Walker. He felt that there was a need to protect the American workman, merediths principal contribution in office was his Annual Report of 1849 in which he set forth an elaborate argument for a protective tariff. He also recommended a revision of the Coast Survey Code, which had not been changed since its implementation in 1806, the Coast Survey had seen great expansion and improvement with the introduction of steam powered ships and was in need of revision. Meredith resigned from his office as Secretary of the Treasury, upon President Zachary Taylors death in 1850, Meredith was elected Pennsylvanias attorney general in the 1860 election, and served for two terms
38.
Zachary Taylor
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Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States, serving from March 1849 until his death in July 1850. Before his presidency, Taylor was an officer in the United States Army. Taylors status as a hero as a result of his victories in the Mexican-American War won him election to the White House despite his vague political beliefs. His top priority as president was preserving the Union, but he died 16 months into his term, before making any progress on the status of slavery and he remains the only President to come from Louisiana. Taylor was born into a prominent family of planters who migrated westward from Virginia to Kentucky in his youth and he was commissioned as an officer in the U. S. Army in 1808 and made a name for himself as a captain in the War of 1812. He climbed the ranks establishing military forts along the Mississippi River and his success in the Second Seminole War attracted national attention and earned him the nickname Old Rough and Ready. The Mexican–American War broke out in April 1846, in May, Taylor defeated Mexican troops commanded by General Mariano Arista at the Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and managed to drive his troops out of Texas. Taylor subsequently led his troops into Mexico, where once again defeated Mexican troops commanded by Pedro de Ampudia at the Battle of Monterrey in September. Defying orders, Taylor moved his troops further south, despite being severely outnumbered, he dealt a crushing blow to Mexican forces under Antonio López de Santa Anna in February 1847 at the Battle of Buena Vista. After this, most of Taylors troops were transferred to the command of Major General Winfield Scott, the Whig Party convinced the reluctant Taylor to lead their ticket in the 1848 presidential election, despite his unclear political beliefs and lack of interest in politics. At the 1848 Whig National Convention, Taylor defeated Scott and former Senator Henry Clay to take the nomination, as president, Taylor kept his distance from Congress and his cabinet, even as partisan tensions threatened to divide the Union. Debate over the status of slavery in the Mexican Cession dominated the political agenda, despite being a Southerner and a slaveholder himself, Taylor did not push for the expansion of slavery, and he sought sectional harmony above all other concerns. To avoid the issue of slavery, he urged settlers in New Mexico and California to bypass the territorial stage and draft constitutions for statehood, Taylor died suddenly of a stomach-related illness in July 1850, with his administration having accomplished little aside from the ratification of the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty. Fillmore served the remainder of Taylors term, Zachary Taylor was born on November 24,1784, on a plantation in Orange County, Virginia, to a prominent family of planters of English ancestry. He is inconclusively believed to have born at the home of his maternal grandfather. He was the third of five surviving sons in his family and had three younger sisters and his mother was Sarah Dabney Taylor. His father, Richard Taylor, had served as a lieutenant colonel in the American Revolution, Taylors second cousin through that line was James Madison, the fourth president. Leaving exhausted lands, his family joined the migration out of Virginia and settled near what developed as Louisville, Kentucky
39.
Q. David Bowers
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Quentin David Bowers is an American numismatist. Beginning in 1952, Bowers’s contributions to numismatics have continued uninterrupted and unabated to the present day and he has been involved in the selling of rare coins since 1953 when he was a teenager. A1960 graduate of the Pennsylvania State University, Q, David Bowers was given the Alumni Achievement Award by that institutions College of Business Administration in a ceremony in 1976. Bowers was born in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, in 1938 and his maternal grandfather, Chester L. Garratt, an attorney by profession, was a hobbyist and researcher in many areas. Garratt gave him his first rare coin, a well worn 1893 Columbian half dollar and this would be his first exposure to numismatics. In 1945–46, his exposure to numismatics was a friend’s home in which a dozen or more Indian cents were embedded face-up in a concrete walk near the front door. In 1948, his family moved to Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, as a 13-year-old high school student, Bowerss interests included reptiles, scouting, short-wave radio, Strombecker kit models of World War II airplanes, and rocks and minerals. During this time Bowers became interested in the written word and he received Raymond L. Ditmars Reptiles of North America from his mother as a Christmas gift in 1952. According to Bowers, Ditmars, who was curator of reptiles at the New York Zoological Garden, had a way of making just about anything sound fascinating. From such experiences, Bowers learned the power of the written word, robert L. Rusbar, a local tax collector, had a collection of rocks and minerals, and Bowers visited him. After a session with rocks and minerals, Rusbar asked Bowers if he collected coins, Rusbar presented a small green-covered album of Lincoln cents, pointed to one of the first openings, and showed that he had paid $10 for that particular coin. He carefully explained that it was a Lincoln cent made in the first year of issue,1909, with the initials of the designer, Victor David Brenner, V. D. B. on the reverse. Bowers would soon discover that the reason for the value was that beneath the date. This mint mark jumped the value from a few cents up to the $10 he had paid, Bowers discovered that 484,000 had been minted and became inspired to find one himself. Rusbar would give Bowers a couple of blue Whitman coin folders, inspired with the idea of making money by selling coins, rather than cutting grass, Bowers traded a $10 bill for 1,000 mixed Lincoln cents. Bowers goal was to find the 1909-s VDB, from finding Lincoln cents in circulation, Bowers moved towards other series, including Mercury dimes and Standing Liberty quarters. Seeking to gain knowledge, Bowers discovered the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine. The dozens of pages were filled with stories and tales about coins and coin collecting, but advertisements offering things for sale were a catalyst in stimulating Bowers affinity for coins
40.
E pluribus unum
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Never codified by law, E Pluribus Unum was considered a de facto motto of the United States until 1956 when the United States Congress passed an act, adopting In God We Trust as the official motto. The 13-letter motto was suggested in 1776 by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere to the responsible for developing the seal. This in turn can be traced back to the London-based Huguenot Peter Anthony Motteux, the phrase is similar to a Latin translation of a variation of Heraclituss 10th fragment, The one is made up of all things, and all things issue from the one. In the poem text, color est e pluribus unus describes the blending of colors into one, st Augustine used the non-truncated variant of the phrase, ex pluribus unum, in his Confessions. The first coins with E pluribus unum were dated 1786 and struck under the authorization of the State of New Jersey by Thomas Goadsby and Albion Cox in Rahway, New Jersey. The motto had no New Jersey linkage but was likely an available die that had created by Walter Mould the previous year for a failed federal coinage proposal. Walter Mould was also authorized by New Jersey to strike state coppers with this motto and did so beginning in early 1787 in Morristown, New Jersey. In March 1786, Seth Read petitioned the Massachusetts General Court, E pluribus unum, written in capital letters, is included on most U. S. currency, with some exceptions to the letter spacing. It is also embossed on the edge of the dollar coin, E pluribus unum is inscribed on the Great Seals scroll. The motto was added to silver coins in 1798. In 1834, it was dropped from most of the coins to mark the change in the standard fineness of the coins. In 1837, it was dropped from the coins, marking the era of the Revised Mint Code. An Act of February 12,1873 made the inscription a requirement of law upon the coins of the United States, after the Revolution, Rahway, New Jersey became the home of the first national mint to create a coin bearing the inscription E pluribus unum. In a quality control error in early 2007 the Philadelphia Mint issued some one-dollar coins without E pluribus unum on the rim, the 2009 and new 2010 penny features a new design on the back, which displays the phrase E Pluribus unum in larger letters than in previous years. The motto E pluribus unum is used by Portuguese multi-sport club Benfica and this motto has also been used by the Scoutspataljon, a professional infantry battalion of the Estonian Defence Forces, since 1918. A variant of the motto, unum e pluribus is used by the Borough of Wokingham in Berkshire, E Pluribus Unum is a march by the composer Fred Jewell, written in 1917 during World War I. In the film The Wizard of Oz, the wizard gives the Scarecrow a diploma from the society of E Pluribus Unum. In the Twilight Zone episode A Kind of a Stopwatch, a man receives a stopwatch that can stop time and is told, remember, a short story collection by Theodore Sturgeon is called E Pluribus Unicorn
41.
Great Seal of the United States
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The Great Seal of the United States is used to authenticate certain documents issued by the U. S. federal government. The phrase is used both for the seal itself, and more generally for the design impressed upon it. The Great Seal was first used publicly in 1782, the obverse of the great seal is used as the national coat of arms of the United States. It is officially used on such as United States passports, military insignia, embassy placards. As a coat of arms, the design has official colors, since 1935, both sides of the Great Seal have appeared on the reverse of the one-dollar bill. The Seal of the President of the United States is directly based on the Great Seal, the design on the obverse of the seal is the coat of arms of the United States. The shield, though sometimes drawn incorrectly, has two differences from the American flag. First, it has no stars on the blue chief, second, unlike the American flag, the outermost stripes are white, not red, so as not to violate the heraldic rule of tincture. The supporter of the shield is an eagle with its wings outstretched. Although not specified by law, the branch is usually depicted with 13 leaves and 13 olives. The eagle has its head turned towards the branch, on its right side. In its beak, the eagle clutches a scroll with the motto E pluribus unum, over its head there appears a glory with 13 mullets on a blue field. In the current dies of the seal, the 13 stars above the eagle are arranged in rows of 1-4-3-4-1. The 1782 resolution of Congress adopting the arms, still in force, legally blazoned the shield as Paleways of 13 pieces, argent and gules, a more technically proper blazon would have been argent, six pallets gules. But the phrase used was chosen to preserve the reference to the 13 original states, the 1782 resolution adopting the seal blazons the image on the reverse as A pyramid unfinished. In the zenith an eye in a triangle, surrounded by a glory, the pyramid is conventionally shown as consisting of 13 layers to refer to the 13 original states. The adopting resolution provides that it is inscribed on its base with the date MDCCLXXVI in Roman numerals, where the top of the pyramid should be, the Eye of Providence watches over it. Two mottos appear, Annuit cœptis signifies that Providence has approved of undertakings, Novus ordo seclorum, freely taken from Virgil, is Latin for a new order of the ages
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The Daily Alta California
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The Alta California or Daily Alta California was a 19th-century San Francisco newspaper. It is principally famous for its relation to Mark Twain and it descended from the first newspaper published in the city, Samuel Brannans California Star, which debuted on January 9,1847. Jones as editor, the California Star was the only newspaper until an older publication, The Californian. The city was about to undergo changes as the California gold rush got underway. The California Star appeared weekly until June 14,1848, when it was forced to shut down because its staff had departed for the gold fields. Its rival newspaper had suspended publication for the reason on May 29. Later that year, Sam Brannan sold his interest in the moribund California Star to Edward Cleveland Kemble, Kemble resumed publication of the combined papers under the name Star and Californian on November 18,1848. On December 23,1848, the California Star and Californian ran an article indicating this would be the last issue, by 1849, the paper had come under the control of Robert B. Semple, who changed its name to the Alta California, on January 22, the paper began daily publication, becoming the first daily newspaper in California. On July 4,1849, Semple began printing the Daily Alta California on a new steam press, in 1863, Albert S. Evans became editor at the paper and continued in that capacity for several years. The newspaper continued publication until June 2,1891
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