United States Statutes at Large/Volume 5/27th Congress/3rd Session/Chapter 69

United States Statutes at Large, Volume 5
United States Congress
4052033United States Statutes at Large, Volume 5 — Public Acts of the Twenty-Seventh Congress, Third Session, Chapter 69United States Congress


March 3, 1843.

Chap. LXIX.An Act regulating the currency of foreign gold and silver coins in the United States.[1]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,Certain gold coins of Great Britain and France to be current―their value fixed. That from and after the passage of this act, the following foreign gold coins shall pass current as money within the United States, and be receivable, by weight, for the payment of all debts and demands, at the rates following, that is to say: the gold coins of Great Britain, of not less than nine hundred and fifteen and a half thousandths in fineness, at ninety-four cents and six-tenths of a cent per pennyweight; and the gold coins of France, of not less than eight hundred and ninety-nine thousandths in fineness, at ninety-two cents and nine-tenths of a cent per pennyweight.

Silver coins of Spain, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia and France, also.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That from and after the passage of this act, the following foreign silver coins shall pass current as money within the United States, and be receivable by tale, for the payment of all debts and demands, at the rates following, that is to say: the Spanish pillar dollars, and the dollars of Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia, of not less than eight hundred and ninety-seven thousandths in fineness, and four hundred and fifteen grains in weight, at one hundred cents each; and the five franc pieces of France, of not less than nine hundred thousandths in fineness, and three hundred and eighty-four grains in weight, at ninety-three cents each.

Assays of said coins to be made and reported to Congress.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to cause assays of the coins made current by this act to be had at the mint of the United States, at least once in every year, and to make report of the result thereof to Congress.

Approved, March 3, 1843.


  1. Notes of the acts of Congress relating to the currency of foreign coins, vol. 2, 374.