<< Dear Maggie:
Thanks for your comment on the American Dollar--British Pound exchange
rate in the 1870's. Can you recall a citation or a source?
Sincerely,
Tom Lehman >>
Tom -- any good history would give you the exact date of the formation of an official american currency (sometime during or right after the civil war). Look in American Monetary history. Prior to the civil war the most common currency in the USA was the spanish silver dollar. However, in use were old british pounds, new british pounds, and bank currencies. Any bank could print currency. One of the eternal problems with determining the real value of wages in the early nineteenth century was: a) frequently workers were paid with currencies only good within a limited geographical region because it was issued by a bank without a good credit rating and b) almost all workers were paid at least partly in goods for their work. Until the gold rush, there was a chronic lack of specie. Norman Ware "The Industrial Worker" pub in the 1920s is still one of the best historical sources for different types of wage payments. maggie coleman mscoleman at aol.com