Number of banks in the US reaches 29

The Louisiana Purchase doubles the size of the United States

Napoleon, being short of cash, offers to sell Louisiana to the United States for 15 million dollars.

War between the United States and Britain

Privy Council recommends establishment of the gold standard

This proposal is accepted and a new British one pound coin made of gold, the sovereign, is produced.

US banking crisis

The uncontrolled, chaotic expansion of banking in the US is slowed and partly reversed by a financial crisis in which every bank is forced to suspend specie payment of notes. The crisis leads to a depression in the economy which lasts until 1843.

Dresden convention fixes the exchange rate between the taler and gulden

The Prussian taler is used mainly in northern Germany and the gulden in the south. A fixed rate of 4:7 is adopted.

Gold Rush in California

The discovery of gold in California leads in the following decade to a massive increase in the production of gold coins by the mint with the result that in practice the US moves away from bimetallism towards a gold standard.