Gold Standard Ends: Depression Policy Shifts
Congress passed House Joint Resolution 192 on June 5, 1933, voiding the gold clause in public and private debt contracts, effectively ending the domestic gold standard. Creditors could no longer demand payment in gold coin or its equivalent. The resolution was part of President Roosevelt's broader New Deal strategy to combat deflation during the Great Depression. By severing the dollar's link to gold, the government gained the ability to increase the money supply and stimulate economic activity. The Supreme Court upheld the resolution in the Gold Clause Cases of 1935, though Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes described the government's actions as going "to the very brink of the Constitution." The international gold standard was formally abandoned under the Bretton Woods system in 1971.
June 5, 1933
93 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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