Historedia
Episode 2 of 2

Enactment of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act

When
1890-07-14
Where
Washington, D.C.
Part of
Sherman Antitrust Act and Sherman Silver Purchase Act become law

The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was enacted on July 14, 1890, mandating monthly government purchases of 4.5 million ounces of silver.

Originally known as the Silver Purchase Act of 1890, the law required the government to purchase 4.5 million ounces of silver monthly, roughly the entirety of American output. The House passed the bill in June 1890, and it was enacted in tandem with the McKinley Tariff.

Sources

  1. Sherman Silver Purchase Act Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-11
  2. John Sherman Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-15

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.