The 1873 act eliminated the provisions allowing depositors of silver bullion to have their metal struck into standard silver dollars ; they could now only receive Trade dollars , which were not legal tender beyond $ 5 . As the price of silver then was about $ 1.30 per ounce , there was no outcry from silver producers . Beginning in 1874 , however , the price dropped ; silver would not again sell for $ 1.2929 or more on the open market in the United States until 1963 . Advocates of silver both sought a market for the commodity and believed that " free silver " or bimetallism would boost the economy and make it easy for farmers to repay debts . Many in Congress agreed , and the first battle over the issue resulted in a partial victory for silver forces , as the 1878 Bland – Allison Act required the Mint to purchase large quantities of silver on the open market and strike the bullion into dollar coins . The Mint did so , using a new design by Assistant Engraver George T. Morgan , which came to be known as the Morgan dollar . The issue of what monetary standard would be used occupied the nation for the rest of the 19th century , becoming most acute in the 1896 presidential election . In that election , the unsuccessful Democratic candidate , William Jennings Bryan , campaigned on " free silver " , having electrified the Democratic National Convention with his Cross of Gold speech , decrying the gold standard . The issue was settled for the time by the Gold Standard Act of 1900 , making that standard the law of the land
the Democratic National Convention
1896 Democratic National Convention
Seated Liberty dollar