Q. David Bowers
Dickeson on 1795 Dollars (1859)
The following appeared in Dr. Montroville W. Dickeson's 1859 book, An American Numismatical Manual:
"Those [silver dollars] coined in this year, up to September, were of the same design of the preceding year; but in the latter portion of the year, the type was changed. Of the first of these [Flowing Hair type], there are six varieties, and the second [Draped Bust type], four. In the latter, the effigy is presented with a full bust adorned with drapery; the hair is secured by a band, the bow of which is perceptible on the back of the head, and flows gracefully in ringlets below the lower part of the bust. The edge also differs slightly from the former type in the punctuation. On the reverse the eagle is smaller, apparently floating upon clouds, the wings not extending, as in the first type, beyond the circle of the wreath. Not rare, but good specimens are scarce."
Snowden's Commentary (1860)
The Cabinet Collection of the Mint of the United States, by James Ross Snowden, 1860, p. 107, told of the coinage of 1795 dollars:
"In the following year (1795) a change took place in the type of the dollar; Henry Wm. DeSausure [sic] was appointed to the Directorship of the Mint on the eleventh of July; and it is probable that the alteration was made soon after. Mr. DeSausure resigned his office on the twenty-eighth of October following, after which date there was no further coinage of dollars during the year; and, as there is- no very great difference in the degrees of rarity of the two varieties of this year, we are forced to believe that there was a large emission of the new type, which would place the date of its first coinage early in August.
"The obverse has a full bust of Liberty, adorned with drapery; from beneath the hair appears a ribbon, which is tied in a bow behind. The reverse has an eagle with expanded wings, standing upon clouds, between branches of laurel and lily, crossed. Otherwise it is the same as before."
The Year 1795 in History
Congress passed the Naturalization Act on January 29, 1795, providing that naturalized citizens must first reside in the United States for five years and renounce foreign allegiances. One of the first governmental frauds surfaced this year, and involved the sale by the Georgia legislature of 35 million acres of land on the Yazoo River, in areas comprising much of Mississippi and Alabama, for $500,000 to four companies in which, it was revealed, nearly all (except just one) members of the legislature had financial interests. In 1796 a new legislature endeavored to overturn the sale, but this was not accomplished. Finally, in 1810, the United States Supreme Court decision of Fletcher vs. Peck ruled that the sale was effective. Congress appropriated $8 million to settle claims, but Georgia refused to honor the payment.
Following Indian trails, pioneer explorer Daniel Boone created the Wilderness Road, making it possible for future settlers to move west. The North West Company established Milwaukee as a trading post on Lake Michigan. On Oak Island in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, three boys digging beneath a tree found an old shaft leading down to ancient oak flooring, thus alerting the world to the Oak Island treasure; during the next two centuries, millions of dollars would be spent by various individuals and companies seeking treasure believed to have been hidden by pirates.
In Paris, the second part of Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason was published. In America, Philip Freneau's Poems Written Between the Years 1768 and 1794 saw print. Ricketts' Circus, a group of equestrian performers from England, appeared in eastern United States cities. Among those in the audience was President George Washington. A cent-size token or store card was created, probably at the Mint, with inscriptions pertaining to Ricketts. In the Kentucky territory the James B. Beam Distilling Company was founded, and would remain in business through the twentieth century.
David Rittenhouse of Pennsylvania served as director of the Mint from April 1792 to June 1795. Henry William DeSaussure served as director of the Mint from July 1795 to October 27, 1795. Elias Boudinot served from October 28, 1795 to July 1805. The first United States gold coins were struck-$5 and $10 pieces.
A short walk from the Mint, William Cobbett, writing under the nom de plume "Peter Porcupine," fanned the partisan political fires with his A Little Plain English Addressed to the People of the United States, on the Treaty Negotiated with His Britannic Majesty.