On July 6, 1785, about a decade after the Continental Congress convened to discuss the terms of the Declaration of Independence, the use of the United States dollar was adopted as the official monetary unit of the country. At the same time, the Continental Congress also agreed to use the decimal coinage form, which meant that each dollar would be worth 100 cents. Until then, several types of currency had been in use throughout the United States and the Americas, the most common and readily available of which was the Spanish silver dollar, also known as the eight-real coin. This currency was highly valued because it contained a high amount of silver. Even with the adoption of the US dollar by the Continental Congress as the official currency of the newly formed nation in 1785, it wasn’t until the Coinage Act of 1792 was signed by President George Washington, under the recommendation of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, that the US dollar became recognized as the basic monetary unit for the United States.

With the passing of the Coinage Act of 1792, a new era of currency production began. Congress created the United States Mint with the specific objective of producing and circulating the new currency. The first Mint was established in the city of Philadelphia, PA, the nation’s capital at the time. Under the supervision of the Department of State, the Mint began its operations, but this changed in 1873 when a new Coinage Act determined it should become a part of the Department of the Treasury. The Mint was granted the authority to use any number of precious metals, including gold and silver, into the coins we still use today, ushering in a sense of order and progress in the nation’s economy.

Despite its establishment as a legal tender in 1785, the US dollar’s global influence took time to develop. It wasn’t until 1861 that the first dollar bills were printed, earning the nickname ‘greenbacks’ due to their color. The dollar bill is also referred to as a ‘buck,’ a name that can be traced back to the American colonies when buckskins, or deerskins, were used as currency. Now, two hundred and thirty-five years after its adoption, the US dollar is the most commonly used in a wide range of transactions with other countries. Its influence extends beyond the United States, with some nations using it as an alternate form of currency alongside their national coinage, underscoring its international significance.