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Primary sourceDocument28 January 1791

Report on the Establishment of a Mint

Alexander Hamilton · 28 January 1791

Hamilton's 1791 report to Congress proposing the design of a U.S. mint and a bimetallic currency system.

Hamilton wrote this report as Treasury Secretary, designing the currency system of the new nation.

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Handwritten manuscript page in ink on pale paper, with calculations about dollar, guinea, and guilder values, notes on Pennsylvania and Portugal gold, and references to Isaac Newton's table. A handwritten number 1791 appears in the top left corner.
Alexander Hamilton, Report on the Establishment of a Mint, 28 January 1791. Library of Congress.

About this source

What it is

This is Alexander Hamilton's handwritten report, submitted to the House of Representatives in 1791, on establishing a national mint. The manuscript includes calculations comparing dollar, guinea, and guilder values, and references to gold standards and Isaac Newton's monetary tables. It is held by the Library of Congress in the Alexander Hamilton Papers.

Why it matters

As the first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton was responsible for designing the financial systems of the new United States. This report laid groundwork for the bimetallic dollar system that was adopted the following year in the Coinage Act of 1792, shaping how Americans would use money for generations.

Look closer

  • Why might Hamilton have referred to a historical figure like Isaac Newton when designing currency?
  • What does comparing different countries' coins suggest about the challenges of creating a national currency?
  • What does this document reveal about the technical, detailed side of Hamilton's work as Treasury Secretary?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Alexander Hamilton on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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