<P> From 1750 to 1870, wars within Europe as well as an ongoing trade deficit with China (which sold to Europe but had little use for European goods) drained silver from the economies of Western Europe and the United States . Coins were struck in smaller and smaller numbers, and there was a proliferation of bank and stock notes used as money . </P> <P> In the 1790s, the United Kingdom suffered a silver shortage . It ceased to mint larger silver coins and instead issued "token" silver coins and overstruck foreign coins . With the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Bank of England began the massive recoinage programme that created standard gold sovereigns, circulating crowns, half - crowns and eventually copper farthings in 1821 . The recoinage of silver after a long drought produced a burst of coins . The United Kingdom struck nearly 40 million shillings between 1816 and 1820, 17 million half crowns and 1.3 million silver crowns . </P> <P> The 1819 Act for the Resumption of Cash Payments set 1823 as the date for resumption of convertibility, which was reached by 1821 . Throughout the 1820s, small notes were issued by regional banks . This was restricted in 1826, while the Bank of England was allowed to set up regional branches . In 1833 however, Bank of England notes were made legal tender and redemption by other banks was discouraged . In 1844, the Bank Charter Act established that Bank of England notes were fully backed by gold and they became the legal standard . According to the strict interpretation of the gold standard, this 1844 act marked the establishment of a full gold standard for British money . </P> <P> In the 1780s, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton recommended to Congress the value of a decimal system . This system would also apply to monies in the United States . The question was what type of standard: gold, silver or both . The United States adopted a silver standard based on the Spanish milled dollar in 1785 . </P>

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