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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;doug444, post: 1983356, member: 38849&quot;]Maybe you are wondering why.&nbsp; <b>Wikipedia</b> sums up the reason in one succinct paragraph, also explaining why mintage of dollars (business strikes) resumed after the 5-year gap from 1873 to 1878:</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;The <b>Bland–Allison Act</b> was an 1878 act of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress" rel="nofollow">United States Congress</a> requiring the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_the_Treasury" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_the_Treasury" rel="nofollow">US Treasury</a> to buy a certain amount of silver and put it into <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circulation_%28currency%29" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circulation_%28currency%29" rel="nofollow">circulation</a> as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_coin_%28United_States%29" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_coin_%28United_States%29" rel="nofollow">silver dollars</a>. Though the bill was vetoed by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States" rel="nofollow">President</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutherford_B._Hayes" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutherford_B._Hayes" rel="nofollow">Rutherford B. Hayes</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress" rel="nofollow">Congress</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veto_override" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veto_override" rel="nofollow">overrode</a> Hayes&#039; veto on February 28, 1878 to enact the law...&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>The Western silver lobby, plus farmers in general, waged a no-holds fight to get this legislation passed.&nbsp; Eventually, William Jennings Bryan took up the Populist theme of &quot;Free Silver&quot; to launch his political career and strengthen his influence in Congress, enabling him to run as the Democratic candidate for President in 1896, 1900, and 1908.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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