 During World War I , the German government hoped to destabilize British rule over India by spreading rumors that the British were unable to redeem for silver all of the paper currency they had printed . These rumors , and hoarding of silver , caused the price of silver to rise and risked damaging the British war effort . The British turned to their war ally , the United States , asking to purchase silver to increase the supply and lower the price . In response , Congress passed the Pittman Act of April 23 , 1918 . This statute gave the United States authority to sell metal to the British government from up to 350 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 silver dollars at $ 1 per ounce of silver plus the value of the copper in the coins , and handling and transportation fees . Only 270 @,@ 232 @,@ 722 coins were melted for sale to the British , but this represented 47 % of all Morgan dollars struck to that point . The Treasury was required by the terms of the Act to strike new silver dollars to replace the coins that were melted , and to strike them from silver purchased from American mining companies . 
