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On May 4, 1754 Ferdinand VI prohibited the circulation in America of all money coined in Spain, including national gold and silver coins identical with those minted in America. The quantity of overvalued provincial silver in circulation was so great that colonial officials lacked the means to redeem and remove it from circulation.
For the English North American colonists, however, the Spanish peso or "piece of eight" has always held first place, and this coin was also called the "dollar" as early as 1581. After the Declaration of American Independence , the United States dollar was introduced in 1792 at par with this coin at 371.25 grains = 0.7735 troy ounces = 24.0566 g.
However, its position as a reserve currency damages American exporters because this increases the value of the United States dollar. [4] [5] The United States dollar is also "standard" in international commodity markets. [1]
Though the Dutch pioneered in modern-day New York in the 17th century the use and the counting of money in silver dollars in the form of German-Dutch reichsthalers and native Dutch leeuwendaalders ('lion dollars'), it was the ubiquitous Spanish American eight-real coin which became exclusively known as the dollar since the 18th century. [23]
The 8 reales coin is the predecessor to the American dollar. Before the United States Mint was in production, columnarios circulated, along with other coinage, in the US colonies, as legal tender until the middle of the 19th century. Prior to the columnario, Spanish coins were hammer struck. These rather crude looking coins were called cobs ...
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In the 1960s, police in Philadelphia started using the term to describe the hectic, overcrowded day that came as families rushed into the city ahead of the weekend's annual Army-Navy football game.
The latter coin was used for Dutch trade in the Middle East, in the Dutch East Indies and West Indies, and in the Thirteen Colonies of North America. [14] For the English North American colonists, however, the Spanish peso or "piece of eight" has always held first place, and this coin was also called the "dollar" as early as 1581.