The Bland-Allison Act of 1878 was a response to the Crime of '73 demonetizing silver. Representative Richard P. Silver Dick Bland of Missouri introduced this bill for the free coinage of silver at ratio of 16:1 to gold. Senator William Allison of Iowa added a provision that limited the amount purchased by the U.S. Treasury to between 2 and 4 million dollars worth of bullion per month at market prices which was coined into silver dollars.
This was part of a struggle between silver and bimetal-standard groups with gold-standard forces who tried to repeal it altogether. President Rutherford B. Hayes purchased only the minimum required amount. It was replaced in 1890 by the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.
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