The silver dollars were authorized by Congress on April 2, 1792. Weight and fineness were specified at 416 grains and .8924 fine. The first issues appeared in 1794, and until 1804 all silver dollars had the value stamped on the edge: HUNDRED CENTS, ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT. After a lapse in coinage of the silver dollar during the period 1804 through 1835, coins were made with either plain or reeded edges and the value was placed on the reverse. The weight was changed by the law of January 18, 1837, to 412-1/2 grains, .900 fineness. The coinage was discontinued by the Act of February 12, 1873, and reauthorized by the Act of February 28, 1878. The dollar was again discontinued after 1935, and since then only base-metal pieces have been coined for circulation.

ORIGIN OF THE DOLLAR: The word dollar evolves from the German thaler, the name given to the first large-sized European silver coin. Designed as a substitute for the gold florin, the coin originated in the Tyrol in 1484. So popular did these large silver coins become during the 16th century that many other countries struck similar pieces, giving them names derived from thaler. In the Netherlands the coin was called rijksdaalder, in Denmark rigsdaler, in Italy tallero, in Poland talar, in France jocandale, in Russia jefimoh. All these names are abbreviations of joachimsthaler. Until the discovery of the great silver deposits in Mexican and South American mines, the mint with the greatest output of large silver coins was that of Joachimsthal in the Bohemian Erzgebirge.
The Spanish dollar, or piece of eight, was widely used and familiar to everyone in the British American colonies. It was only natural, therefore, that the word dollar was adopted officially as the standard monetary unit of the United States by Congress on July 6, 1785.