Old West Silver

February 28, 1878
Silver rebounds
Proponents of silver-based currency had a rough go of it during the early 1870s, as legislators rebuffed their push for the free coinage of silver. However, the election of the 45th Congress, which was split down the middle on the expanded currency issue, opened the door for the passage of pro-silver legislation. And, on this day in 1878, the House gave the nod to the Bland-Allison Act, which called for the coinage of silver, albeit it in limited doses. Bland-Allison was another sign of the growing political power of the expanded currency movement, which blended silver forces with the burgeoning greenback movement. Earlier that February, the Greenback and Labor parties joined forces to form the Greenback Labor Party which, for brief period at the end of the 1870s, made a serious run at the national political stage. At the same time, the economy became ripe for the rise of silver: the nation's currency was deflated to Civil War-era levels, while miners across the West were churning up vast quantities of silver. The silver movement flourished for the next decade or so, as many in the greenback crusade, realizing that silver was a better horse to ride to an expanded currency, joined the drive for the unlimited coinage of silver.