time; and that “the poor money drives out the good,” according to Gresham's statement. For clearness, the period may be divided, in accordance with the changes of legislation, into four divisions:
I. 1792-1834. Transition from gold to silver.
II. 1834-1853. Transition from silver to gold.
III. 1853-1878. Single gold currency (except 1862-1879, the paper period).
IV. 1878-1884. Transition from gold to silver.
I. With the establishment of the mint, Hamilton agreed upon the use of both gold and silver in our money, at a ratio of 15 to 1: that is, that the amount of pure silver in a dollar should be fifteen times the weight of gold in a dollar. So, while the various Spanish dollars then in circulation in the United States seemed to contain on the average about 371-¼ grains of pure silver, and since Hamilton believed the relative market value of gold and silver to be about 1 to 15, he put 1/15 of 371-¼ grains, or 24-¾ grains of pure gold,