Everyone knows that the US Mint is located in Philadelphia. Few, however, may be able to explain why. After all, the Mint is an important agency of the federal government, and nearly all other government agencies are headquartered in Washington D.C. Why is the Mint different?
The answer lies in the origins and establishment of the Mint. From December 6, 1790 till May 14, 1800, Philadelphia was the capital of the United States. On April 2, 1792, the Coinage Act was enacted into law. The act created a monetary system based on dollar units, specified the metallic composition and fineness of coins, and created the a mint located “situate and carried on at the seat of the government of the United States, for the time being,” meaning Philadelphia. The Act also authorized the President to construct buildings in Philadelphia, beginning with the Mint, the first Federal building constructed under the Constitution.
The Original Philadelphia Mint
Philadelphia was in many ways a good location for the Mint, as it was one of the young nation’s main commercial centers and the location of the headquarters of the Bank of the United States, the central bank. From the start, the Washington administration seemed to view Philadelphia as a long-term location and instructed the Mint to purchase, rather than lease, land for the initial building (on a site formerly occupied by a distillery.) The cornerstone was laid on July 31, Mint operations began in October 1792 and by November a special batch of half-dimes had been produced. Traditionally, the silver for those coins is believed to have come from silverware provided by George and Martha Washington!
The early years of the Mint were rather rocky, with yellow fever causing work stoppages in 1797, 1798, 1799, 1802, and 1803, and sufficient gold and silver to produce coins difficult to procure (the Coinage Act didn’t authorize the Mint to purchase gold or silver for coinage!) While the future of the Mint as an institution may have been in doubt, the Mint became firmly situated in its Philadelphia buildings. When the seat of government moved to newly constructed Washington, D.C. in November of 1800, Mint officials resisted the move. In March of 1801 Congress passed legislation directing the Mint to remain in Philadelphia until 1803, due to the Mint’s resistance, a shortage of government funds to pay for a move, and the fact that the survival of the Mint was in question. Alexander Hamilton argued that the Bank of the United States could operate more efficiently than the Mint, and several votes to abolish the Mint were held, but narrowly defeated.
Then in January 1803, Mint Director Elias Boudinot filed a report with Congress outlining ways to improve the efficiency of the Mint. This led to a vote to retain the Mint in March of 1803 in its Philadelphia location. Congress continued to pass extensions allowing the Mint to stay in Philadelphia throughout the early 1800′s, typically for 5 years at a time. Finally on May 19, 1828 Congress passed a law leaving the Mint in Philadelphia “until otherwise provided by law” and there it remains!
