The US has never had a bi-metalic currency. Prior to the Rebellion, the country was on a silver standard. Gold was used in trade mostly by the very wealthy and they set the value, not the government in terms of silver/gold. During the war the government adopted a fiat currency which sparked severe inflation (and rampant counterfeiting). This ended in 1873 when the country followed most of the rest of the world and adopted the Gold Standard.
The Free Silver movement claimed they were in favor of bi-metalism but it was a patent lie. They wanted a de-facto silver standard and a 50% devaluation of the currency by forcing creditors to accept silver in payment of gold debt at 16:1 oz. ratio. Essentially they were demanding that creditors accept 50 cents and call it a dollar. They also wanted to abolish gold clauses in contracts and bonds in order to guarantee the success of their debt repudiation scheme.
Bi-metalism is not really feasible because governments can’t regulate the long term value of one metal vs another. Only the free market can do that.
Paying Attention to this thread - bump
Amen to that.
The Constitution declares Gold and Silver - and only Gold and Silver - to be money.
It does not give the government the power to declare the value of Gold and Silver. Only the Free Market should be allowed to do that.
But Government has long since abrogated to itself the right to control the buying power of money. Artificial control of the value of money leads to - has always led to - depression and disaster.
We wise moderns have gone even further: we have also declared that 1’s and 0’s in a computer are money.
This insanity is going to end very soon, and very badly.