📅 This Day in Monetary History — February 12, 1873

President Grant signed the Coinage Act of 1873, removing the silver dollar from the list of authorized coins. Overnight, silver lost its status as legal tender for debts, and the US quietly shifted to a de facto gold standard. Silver miners, farmers, and debtors called it the "Crime of 1873."

The move concentrated monetary power. Under bimetallism, silver provided a more accessible money supply — you didn't need a vault of gold to participate in the economy. Demonetizing silver tightened credit, benefited creditors, and kicked off two decades of deflation that crushed rural America while enriching Eastern banks.

The pattern: when governments change what counts as money, the people who understand the change profit — and the people who don't get quietly made poorer.

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