The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | Historical Context

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Historical Context

The Gold Standard Debate

The gold standard is a monetary system in which the value of gold determines the value of money. Each unit of currency represents a certain amount of gold. In the United States, the gold standard was adopted during the 1870s. Although a bimetallic (gold and silver) system had been used before the Civil War, this system changed when the silver dollar was dropped in 1873. Laws allowed for free and unlimited coinage of gold, meaning that people could take their gold and have it made into coins based on its weight and value. The Gold Standard Act of 1900 made the gold standard official.

Not everyone was content with the gold standard. Many groups, such as farmers and other rural workers, believed that the gold standard was a means for maintaining the division between the "haves" and the "have-nots." After the Civil War, farmers struggled as the country focused...
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