by 1862, the civil war is in full swing. the glut was replaced with a shortage when most federal coins were hoarded amid the economic chaos of thecivil war. slowest to vanish was the base-metalcent, which only had value because government said it did, and at that time, confidence in government was shaken. eventually, it too vanished from circulation and commanded a premium for change.a variety of makeshifts replaced the vanished coins, such asfractional currencyandmerchant's tokens. beginning in 1864, congress began to authorize base metal coins that would not be hoarded. it reduced the weight of the cent, causing it to be made of bronze, and also required atwo-cent pieceof the same metal. the following year saw the initiation of thethree-cent nickeland in 1866, thefive-cent nickel(today simply known as the nickel) began production. the two-cent piece, initially popular, saw declining mintages as the public preferred the smaller, more convenient nickelcoins. greenbacks, which were backed by neither silver nor gold but by the credit of the united states, and which were necessitated by vast wartime expenditures, had helped to finance the war.in the late 1860s, politicians disagreed about how quickly to have the government resume paying out gold and silver in payment of its obligations. treasury secretaryhugh mccullochfelt the best way to return to that practice was to withdraw the greenbacks as quickly as possible, and he did so until stopped by congress, which felt his contractionist stand was hurting the economy.more and more silver was being mined in the far west. falls in the price of the metal made the option of depositing silver at the mint in exchange for coin more attractive, and mintages of the silver dollar rose considerably in the late 1860s and into the 1870s.
United States