When did the dollar bill become national currency?

Answer 1

That's really a multi-part question without a simple answer.

The first federally-issued $1 bills were printed in 1862. They were called United States Notes and were printed to help finance the Civil War.

However as far back as the Revolution in 1776, the US had used some coins and bills denominated in "dollars" but these were unofficial and not standardized. The name came from large silver coins used in Europe that were variously called dalers, talers, thalers, and so on. There were also many other denominations which caused much confusion and hindered commerce. For example people used leftover British money denominated in pounds, shillings, and pence. A further complication was added by the use of coins from Spain's colonies in Central and South America. The size and weight of those Spanish coins became the basis for silver dollars, but they were divided into eighths while US dollars were divided into tenths and hundredths.

The Constitution defined the US Dollar as the country's official currency in 1787, but it took another 5 years to create a coinage system. Coin specifications were standardized by the Coinage Act of 1792. The first cents were minted in 1793 and some other denominations including the first silver dollars were put into circulation in 1794. For the next 70 years American money was almost exclusively issued as coins.