document_title: List of capitals in the United States

question_text: what is the most populous capital city in the us

text: List of capitals in the United States

text: Capitals of the United States[edit]

text:
The Albany Conference (June 18–July 11, 1754), or "The Conference of Albany", was the first meeting at which representatives of British colonies in North America (seven of them) gathered to discuss questions of common interest. It met in the Stadt Huys, the City Hall of Albany, New York (demolished after a fire in 1836). The original purpose of the Conference was to coordinate relations with the Indians and common defensive measures against the French threat from Canada (see French and Indian War#Albany Conference). At that meeting the major topic of discussion, however, was the Albany Plan, presented by Benjamin Franklin, delegate from Pennsylvania, setting up a unified (though not independent) government for the colonies. Although the delegates approved the plan (after modifications) unanimously, it was not approved by any of the territorial governments, or by the British government. It was used later in the drafting of the Articles of Confederation.
The Stamp Act Congress (October 7–25, 1765), or First Congress of the American Colonies, met in City Hall, today Federal Hall, in New York City.
The Continental Congress, later called the First Continental Congress (September 5–October 26, 1774), embryo of what would become the United States government, met in Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, today (2018) part of Independence National Historical Park. Delegate Joseph Galloway presented the Galloway Plan for a unified government, incorporating some elements of the Albany Plan, but it was not accepted.
The Second Continental Congress (1775–1781), in which the U.S. Declaration of Independence was debated and signed, and which starting in 1775 coordinated the American Revolutionary War, met primarily in the Pennsylvania State House, today Independence Hall, in Independence National Historic Park. The room as it was then is accurately depicted in the famous painting Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull, commissioned by Congress, which has hung in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda since 1825. The Articles of Confederation, though drafted in York, Pennsylvania, were adopted in Philadelphia in 1777, subject to the states' approval. The Second Continental Congress also met briefly in the following locations:
Henry Fite House, Baltimore, Maryland: December 20, 1776 to February 27, 1777, to avoid capture by British forces. The building was destroyed by fire in 1904.
Court House, Lancaster, Pennsylvania: September 27, 1777 (one day)
Court House, York, Pennsylvania: September 30, 1777 to June 2, 1778
College Hall, College of Philadelphia: July 2, 1778 to July 20, 1778[1]
The Congress of the Confederation (1781–1789) did not have an official capitol. It met in the following locations:
Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: March 1, 1781 to June 21, 1783 (In 1783 Congress was forced to move from Philadelphia due to a riot of angry soldiers. See Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783.)
Nassau Hall, Princeton, New Jersey: June 30, 1783 to November 4, 1783
Maryland State House, Annapolis, Maryland: November 26, 1783 to August 19, 1784
French Arms Tavern, Trenton, New Jersey: November 1, 1784 to December 24, 1784
Federal Hall, New York City, New York: January 11, 1785 to October 2, 1788[2] Demolished in 1812.
Fraunces Tavern, New York City, New York: October 6, 1788 to March 3, 1789[3]
The United States Constitution addressed (Article 1, section 8, clause 17) the need for a fixed U.S. Capitol. This led to the establishment of the District of Columbia and the founding of Washington as the nation's capitol. Until the Capitol building was completed, and after it was burned by the British in 1814, requiring its rebuilding, Congress met in various places:
Federal Hall, New York City, New York: March 4, 1789 to December 5, 1790. This is where George Washington was inaugurated as first President. Demolished in 1812.
Congress Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, adjacent to the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) and also part of Independence National Historic Park: December 6, 1790 to May 14, 1800. Built for the purpose of being the U.S. capitol. This is pursuant to the Residence Act of 1790, which designated Philadelphia as U.S. Capital for 10 years.
United States Capitol. Territory of Columbia: November 17, 1800 to February 27, 1801; District of Columbia: February 27, 1801 to May 2, 1802; Washington, D.C.: May 3, 1802 to August 24, 1814, when the British burned it.
(President James Madison fled to the home of Quaker Caleb Bentley, in Brookeville, Maryland, where he stayed one night, August 26, 1814. As such, the town claims to have been the "U.S. Capital for a Day", despite the fact that Congress never met there.[4])
Blodgett’s Hotel (one of the few surviving buildings large enough to hold all members), September 19, 1814 – December 7, 1815[5]
Old Brick Capitol, Washington, D.C.: December 8, 1815 to 1819 (while the original Capitol was being rebuilt). Although the name says "old", the cornerstone was laid July 4, 1815. It was financed by Washington real-estate investors, who had heard rumors that some members of Congress were considering relocation of the national capital in the aftermath of the burning.
United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.: 1819 to present

text: State capitals[edit]

text: The dates listed in the following table indicate the year in which the city started to continuously serve as the state's sole capital. Most states have changed their capital city at least once. In the case of the thirteen original states, "statehood" in the table refers to date of ratification of the United States Constitution.

text:
State capitals of the United States

State
Abr.
State-hood
Capital
Capital since
Area (mi²)
Population (2010)
Notes

Municipal (Within city proper boundaries)

Metropolitan (Both within the capital city proper and the surrounding area of the city proper)

Rank in state

Rank in US

Alabama
AL
1819
Montgomery
1846
155.4
205,764
374,536
2
115
Birmingham is the state's largest city.

Alaska
AK
1959
Juneau
1906
2716.7
31,275

3

Largest capital by municipal land area. Anchorage is the state's largest city.

Arizona
AZ
1912
Phoenix
1889
474.9
1,445,632
4,192,887
1
5
Most populous U.S. state capital and the only capital with more than 1 million citizens.

Arkansas
AR
1836
Little Rock
1821
116.2
193,524
877,091
1
117

California
CA
1850
Sacramento
1854
97.2
466,488
2,527,123
6
35
Supreme Court of California is headquartered in San Francisco. The state's largest city is Los Angeles.

Colorado
CO
1876
Denver
1867
153.4
600,158
2,552,195
1
19
Denver was called Denver City until 1882.

Connecticut
CT
1788
Hartford
1875
17.3
124,775
1,212,381
3
221
Bridgeport is the state's largest city. Hartford, however, is the state's largest metro area. Hartford was also formerly the state's largest city.

Delaware
DE
1787
Dover
1777
22.4
36,047
162,310
2

Longest-serving capital in terms of statehood. Wilmington is the state's largest city.

Florida
FL
1845
Tallahassee
1824
95.7
190,894
379,627
7
126
Jacksonville is the largest city. Miami is the largest metropolitan area.

Georgia
GA
1788
Atlanta
1868
131.7
420,003
5,789,700
1
38
State capital with the most populous metro area in the U.S.

Hawaii
HI
1959
Honolulu
1845
85.7
337,256
953,207
1
55

Idaho
ID
1890
Boise
1865
63.8
205,671
616,561
1
99

Illinois
IL
1818
Springfield
1837
54.0
116,250
208,182
6
241
Springfield was once home to Abraham Lincoln. Chicago is the state's largest city.

Indiana
IN
1816
Indianapolis
1825
361.5
829,718
1,756,221
1
15

Iowa
IA
1846
Des Moines
1857
75.8
203,433
580,255
1
102

Kansas
KS
1861
Topeka
1856
56.0
127,473
230,824
4
217
Wichita is the state's largest city. The largest metro area is the portion of Kansas that is considered part of Greater Kansas City.

Kentucky
KY
1792
Frankfort
1792
14.7
25,527
70,758
14

Louisville is the state's largest city.

Louisiana
LA
1812
Baton Rouge
1880
76.8
229,553
802,484
2
97
New Orleans is the state's largest city and home to the Louisiana Supreme Court, although Baton Rouge is located in the state's most populous parish. It is also home to the tallest state capitol building.

Maine
ME
1820
Augusta
1832
55.4
19,136
117,114
8

Portland is the state's largest city and previous capital.

Maryland
MD
1788
Annapolis
1694
6.73
38,394

7

Smallest capital by land area. Baltimore is the state's largest city and county. Capitol building is the oldest in the U.S. still in use.

Massachusetts
MA
1788
Boston
1630
48.4
617,594
4,522,858
1
22
Longest continuously serving capital in the U.S.

Michigan
MI
1837
Lansing
1847
35.0
114,297
464,036
5
239
Only state capital that is not also its county seat (not counting the two state capitals that are independent cities and not located in any county). Detroit is the state's largest city.

Minnesota
MN
1858
Saint Paul
1849
52.8
300,851
3,502,891
2
64
Capital's twin city, Minneapolis, is the state's largest. The two form the core of the state's Largest Metro Area.

Mississippi
MS
1817
Jackson
1821
104.9
173,514
539,057
1
149
Only state capital that shares its status as county seat with another city (Raymond, Mississippi).

Missouri
MO
1821
Jefferson City
1826
27.3
43,079
149,807
15

Kansas City is the state's largest city, and Greater St. Louis is the state's largest metropolitan area.

Montana
MT
1889
Helena
1875
14.0
28,190
74,801
6

Billings is the state's largest city.

Nebraska
NE
1867
Lincoln
1867
74.6
258,379
302,157
2
71
Omaha is the state's largest city. It shares the largest metro area with Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Nevada
NV
1864
Carson City
1861
143.4
55,274

6

One of two independent cities that serves as a state capital. Las Vegas is the state's largest city. It shares the largest metro area with Paradise.

New Hampshire
NH
1788
Concord
1808
64.3
42,695

3

Manchester is the state's largest city.

New Jersey
NJ
1787
Trenton
1784
7.66
84,913
366,513
10

Served as the U.S. capital for a short period in the late 18th century. Newark is the state's largest city, although Trenton is the center of the largest Metropolitan Statistical Area centered in New Jersey.

New Mexico
NM
1912
Santa Fe
1610
37.3
75,764
183,732
4

Longest serving capital in the United States. Highest elevation of any state capital. Albuquerque is the state's largest city.

New York
NY
1788
Albany
1797
21.4
97,856
857,592
6

New York City is the state's largest city.

North Carolina
NC
1789
Raleigh
1792
114.6
403,892
1,130,490
2
41
Charlotte is the state's largest city.

North Dakota
ND
1889
Bismarck
1883
26.9
61,272
108,779
2

Fargo is the state's largest city.

Ohio
OH
1803
Columbus
1816
210.3
822,553
1,967,066
1
14
Third-largest state capital; however, the Cincinnati metropolitan area is slightly larger. Cleveland was previously the state's largest city.

Oklahoma
OK
1907
Oklahoma City
1910
607.0
580,000
1,252,987
1
27
Shortest serving current state capital.

Oregon
OR
1859
Salem
1855
45.7
154,637
390,738
3
151
Portland is the state's largest city.

Pennsylvania
PA
1787
Harrisburg
1812
8.11
49,528
647,390
9

Philadelphia is the state's largest city.

Rhode Island
RI
1790
Providence
1900
18.5
178,042
1,630,956
1
137
Also served as the state's capital 1636–1686 and 1689–1776. It was one of five co-capitals 1776–1853, and one of two co-capitals 1853–1900.

South Carolina
SC
1788
Columbia
1786
125.2
131,686
913,797
2
199
Charleston is the state's largest city, while Greenville is the largest metro area.

South Dakota
SD
1889
Pierre
1889
13.0
13,646

8

Sioux Falls is the state's largest city.

Tennessee
TN
1796
Nashville
1826
473.3
635,710
1,582,264
1
24

Texas
TX
1845
Austin
1839
251.5
790,390
1,716,291
4
11
Houston is the state's largest city and the previous capital, and Dallas–Fort Worth is the largest metro area. Austin is the largest state capital that is not also the state's largest city by population.

Utah
UT
1896
Salt Lake City
1858
109.1
186,440
1,124,197
1
123

Vermont
VT
1791
Montpelier
1805
10.2
7,855

6

Least populous U.S. state capital. Burlington is the state's most populous city and has the lowest population of those cities that are the most populous in their state.

Virginia
VA
1788
Richmond
1780
60.1
204,214
1,231,675
4
98
Virginia Beach and Norfolk are the state's largest cities, and Hampton Roads is the state's largest metro area based in the state. Richmond is one of two independent cities that serves as a state capital. Although Richmond is the county seat of Henrico County, it is not part of the county.

Washington
WA
1889
Olympia
1853
16.7
46,478
234,670
24

Seattle is the state's largest city.

West Virginia
WV
1863
Charleston
1885
31.6
51,400
304,214
1

Charleston is the smallest capital city that is still the most populous city in its state. Huntington has the largest metropolitan area.

Wisconsin
WI
1848
Madison
1838
68.7
233,209
561,505
2
82
Milwaukee is the state's largest city.

Wyoming
WY
1890
Cheyenne
1869
21.1
59,466
91,738
1

text: Insular area capitals[edit]

text: An insular area is a United States territory that is neither a part of one of the fifty states nor a part of the District of Columbia, the nation's federal district. Those insular areas with territorial capitals are listed below.

text:
Capitals of United States Insular Areas

Insular area
Abr.
Date
Capital
Population (2010)
Notes

American Samoa
AS
1899
Pago Pago
3,656
Pago Pago refers to both a village and a group of villages, one of the group is Fagatogo the official seat of government stated in the territory's constitution since 1967.

Guam
GU
1898
Hagåtña
1,051
Dededo is the area's largest village.

Northern Mariana Islands
MP
1947
Saipan
48,220

Puerto Rico
PR
1898
San Juan
395,326
The city of San Juan was originally called Puerto Rico while the island was called San Juan Bautista.

U.S. Virgin Islands
VI
1917
Charlotte Amalie
18,481

text: Former national capitals[edit]

text: Kingdom and Republic of Hawaii[edit]

text: Prior to becoming a territory of the United States in 1898, Hawaii was an independent country. Five sites served as its capital:

text:
Waikīkī.  Served as the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, 1795–1796
Hilo.  Served as the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, 1796–1803
Kailua-Kona.  Served as the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, 1812–1820
Lahaina. Served as the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, 1820–1845.
Honolulu
Served as the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, 1803–1812.
Served as the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, 1845–January 17, 1893.
Served as the seat of the Provisional Government of Hawaii after the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, January 17, 1893 – July 4, 1894.
Served as the capital of the Republic of Hawaii when it was established on July 4, 1894 until the Republic was annexed by the United States on July 7, 1898 under the Newlands Resolution to become the Territory of Hawaii. On becoming a state in 1959, Honolulu became the capital of the State of Hawaii.

text: Republic of Texas[edit]

text: Before joining the United States under the Texas Annexation in 1845, Texas was an independent nation known as the Republic of Texas. Seven cities served as its capital:

text:
Washington (now Washington-on-the-Brazos), 1836
Harrisburg (now part of Houston), 1836
Galveston, 1836
Velasco, 1836
West Columbia, 1836
Houston, 1837–1839
Austin, 1839–1845 (also present-day capital of the State of Texas)

text: Native American capitals[edit]

text: Some Native American tribes, in particular the Five Civilized Tribes, organized their states with constitutions and capitals in Western style. Others, like the Iroquois, had long-standing, pre-Columbian traditions of a 'capitol' longhouse where wampum and council fires were maintained with special status. Since they did business with the U.S. Federal Government, these capitals can be seen as officially recognized in some sense.

text: Cherokee Nation[edit]

text: New Echota 1825–1832

text: New Echota, now near Calhoun, Georgia was founded in 1825, realizing the dream and plans of Cherokee Chief Major Ridge. Major Ridge chose the site because of its centrality in the historic Cherokee Nation which spanned parts of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama, and because it was near the confluence of the Conasauga and Coosawattee rivers. The town's layout was partly inspired by Ridge's many visits to Washington D.C. and to Baltimore, but also invoked traditional themes of the Southeastern ceremonial complex. Complete with the Council House, Supreme Court, Cherokee syllabary printing press, and the houses of several of the Nation's constitutional officers, New Echota served as the capital until 1832 when the state of Georgia outlawed Native American assembly in an attempt to undermine the Nation. Thousands of Cherokee would gather in New Echota for the annual National Councils, camping along the nearby rivers and holding long stomp dances in the park-like woods that were typical of many Southeastern Native American settlements.[6]

text: Red Clay 1832–1838

text: The Cherokee National council grounds were moved to Red Clay, Tennessee on the Georgia state line in order to evade the Georgia state militia. The log cabins, limestone springs and park-like woods of Red Clay served as the capital until the Cherokee Nation was removed to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) on the Trail of Tears.[6]

text: Tahlequah 1839–1907, 1938–present

text: Tahlequah, in present-day Oklahoma, served as the capital of the original Cherokee Nation after Removal. After the Civil War, a turbulent period for the Nation which was involved in its own civil war resulting from pervasive anger and disagreements over removal from Georgia, the Cherokee Nation built a new National Capitol in Tahlequah out of brick. The building served as the capitol until 1907, when the Dawes Act finally dissolved the Cherokee Nation and Tahlequah became the county seat of Cherokee County, Oklahoma. The Cherokee National government was re-established in 1938 and Tahlequah remains the capital of the modern Cherokee Nation; it is also the capital of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians.

text: Cherokee 20th century–present (Eastern Band of Cherokee)

text: Approximately four to eight hundred Cherokees escaped removal because they lived on a separated tract, purchased later with the help of Confederate Colonel William Holland Thomas, along the Oconaluftee river deep in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Some Cherokees fleeing the Federal Army sent for the "round up," fled to the remote settlements separated from the rest of the Cherokee Territory in Georgia and North Carolina in order to remain in their homeland.[7] In the 20th century, their descendants organized as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; its capital is at Cherokee, North Carolina, in the tribally-controlled Qualla Boundary.

text: Muscogee Creek Nation[edit]

text: Hot Springs, Arkansas c. 1837–1866

text: After Removal from their Alabama-Georgia homeland, the Creek national government met near Hot Springs which was then part of their new territory as prescribed in the Treaty of Cusseta. However, the Union forced the Creeks to cede over three million acres (half of their land) of what is now Arkansas, after some Creeks fought with the Confederacy in the American Civil War.[8]

text: Okmulgee 1867–1906

text: Served as the National capital after the American Civil War. It was probably named after Ocmulgee, on the Ocmulgee river in Macon, a principle Coosa and later Creek town built with mounds and functioning as part of the Southeastern ceremonial complex. However, there were other traditional Creek "mother-towns" before removal. The Ocmulgee mounds were ceded illegally in 1821 with the Treaty of Indian Springs.

text: Iroquois Confederacy[edit]

text: Onondaga (Onondaga privilege c. 1450–present)

text: The Iroquois Confederacy or Haudenosaunee, which means "People of the Longhouse," was an alliance between the Five and later Six-Nations of Iroquoian language and culture of upstate New York.[9] These include the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and, after 1722, the Tuscarora Nations. Since the Confederacy's formation around 1450, the Onondaga Nation has held privilege of hosting the Iroquois Grand Council and the status of Keepers of the Fire and the Wampum —which they still do at the official Longhouse on the Onondaga Reservation.[10] Now spread over reservations in New York and Ontario, the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee preserve this arrangement to this day in what they claim to be the "world's oldest representative democracy."[11]

text: Seneca Nation of Indians[edit]

text:
Jimerson Town (Allegany Reservation)
Irving (Cattaraugus Reservation)

text: The Seneca Nation republic was founded in 1848 and has two capitals that rotate responsibilities every two years. Jimerson Town was founded in the 1960s following the formation of the Allegheny Reservoir. The Senecas also have an administrative longhouse in Steamburg but do not consider that location to be a capital.

text: Navajo Nation[edit]

text: Window Rock

text: Window Rock (Navajo: Tségháhoodzání), Arizona, is a small city that serves as the seat of government and capital of the Navajo Nation (1936–present), the largest territory of a sovereign Native American nation in North America. It lies within the boundaries of the St. Michaels Chapter, adjacent to the Arizona and New Mexico state line. Window Rock hosts the Navajo Nation governmental campus which contains the Navajo Nation Council, Navajo Nation Supreme Court, the offices of the Navajo Nation President and Vice President, and many Navajo government buildings.

text: Unrecognized national capitals[edit]

text: There have been a handful of nations within the current borders of the United States which were never officially recognized as legally independent sovereign entities; however, these nations did have de facto control over their respective regions during their existence.

text: Vermont Republic[edit]

text: Before joining the United States as the fourteenth state, Vermont was an independent republic known as the Vermont Republic. Two cities served as the capital of the Republic:

text:
Westminster, 1777
Windsor, 1777–1791

text: The current capital of the State of Vermont is Montpelier.

text: State of Franklin[edit]

text: The State of Franklin was an autonomous, secessionist United States territory created, not long after the end of the American Revolution, from territory that later was ceded by North Carolina to the federal government. Franklin's territory later became part of the state of Tennessee. Franklin was never officially admitted into the Union of the United States and existed for only four years.

text:
Jonesborough, Tennessee, 1784–?
Greeneville, Tennessee, 1785?–?

text: State of Muskogee[edit]

text: The State of Muskogee was a short-lived Native American state in Florida, created by the Englishman William Augustus Bowles, who was its "Director General", author of its Constitution and designer of its flag.[12] It consisted of several tribes of Creeks and Seminoles. It existed from 1799 to 1803. It had one capital:

text: Miccosukee,[13] 1799–1803

text: Republic of West Florida[edit]

text: The Republic of West Florida was a short-lived republic involving the area known today as Louisiana's Florida Parishes — at the time the westernmost portion of Spanish West Florida. The area was soon seized by the United States under President James Madison and incorporated into the Territory of Orleans. None of the Republic of West Florida was within the boundaries of modern Florida.

text: St. Francisville, Louisiana, 1810

text: Republic of Indian Stream[edit]

text: The Republic of Indian Stream was an unrecognized independent nation within the present state of New Hampshire.

text: Pittsburg, New Hampshire, 1832–1835

text: California Republic[edit]

text: Before being annexed by the United States in 1848 (following the Mexican–American War), a small portion of north-central California declared itself the California Republic, in an act of independence from Mexico, in 1846 (see Bear Flag Revolt).  The republic only existed a month before it disbanded itself, to join the advancing American army and therefore became part of the United States.

text: The very short-lived California Republic was never recognized by the United States, Mexico or any other nation.  There was one de facto capital of the California Republic:

text: Sonoma, 1846

text: Confederate States[edit]

text: The Confederate States of America (C.S.A.) had two capitals during its existence. The first capital was established February 4, 1861, in Montgomery, Alabama, and remained there until it was moved to Richmond, Virginia, on May 29, 1861, after Virginia seceded on May 23.

text: The individual state capitals remained the same in the Confederacy as they had been in the Union (U.S.A.), although as the advancing Union Army used those cities for military districts, some of the Confederate governments were relocated or moved out of state, traveling along with secessionist armies.

text:
Montgomery, February 4, 1861 – May 29, 1861
Richmond, May 29, 1861 – April 3, 1865

text: Historical state, colonial, and territorial capitals[edit]

text: Most of the original Thirteen Colonies had their capitals occupied or attacked by the British during the American Revolutionary War.  State governments operated where and as they could.  The City of New York was occupied by British troops from 1776 to 1783.  A similar situation occurred during the War of 1812, during the American Civil War in many Confederate states, and during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680–1692 in New Mexico.

text: Twenty-two state capitals have been a capital longer than their state has been a state, since they served as the capital of a predecessor territory, colony, or republic. Boston, Massachusetts, has been a capital city since 1630; it is the oldest continuously-running capital in the United States. Santa Fe, New Mexico, is the oldest capital city, having become capital in 1610 and interrupted only by the aforementioned Pueblo Revolt. An even older Spanish city, St. Augustine, Florida, served as a colonial capital from 1565 until about 1820, more than 250 years.

text: The table below includes the following information:

text:
The state, the year in which statehood was granted, and the state's capital are shown in bold type.  NOTE: For the first thirteen states, formerly the Thirteen Colonies of Great Britain on the Atlantic seaboard, the year of statehood is shown as 1776 (United States Declaration of Independence) rather than the subsequent year each state ratified the 1787 United States Constitution. (See List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union.)
The year listed for each capital is the starting date; the ending date is the starting date for the successor unless otherwise indicated.
In many cases, capital cities of historical jurisdictions were outside of a state's present borders. (Those cities are generally indicated with the two-letter abbreviation for the U.S. state in which the former administrative capital is now located.)

tag: ol

text:
Historical capitals in the United States of America

State
Capital
Date
Notes

Alabama[14]Statehood in 1819

San Agustín
1565
Capital of the Spanish colony of La Florida.[15]

Savannah
1733
Capital of the British proprietary Colony of Georgia.

1755
Capital of the British Province of Georgia.

1776
Capitals of the State of Georgia.

Augusta (GA)
1778

Heard's Fort (GA)
1780

Augusta (GA)
1781

Savannah (GA)
1782

Ebenezer (GA)
1782

Savannah (GA)
1784

Augusta (GA)
1786

Louisville (GA)
1796

Natchez (MS)
1798
Capitals of the Mississippi Territory.

Washington (MS)
1802

St. Stephens
1817
Capital of the Alabama Territory.

Huntsville
1819
Capitals of the State of Alabama.

Cahawba
1820

Tuscaloosa
1826

Montgomery
1846
Capital of the State of Alabama.(Capital of the Confederate States of America in 1861.)

Alaska[16]Statehood in 1959

Novo-ArkhangelskSitka
1808
Capital of the Russian colony of Alaska.

1867
Capital of the Department of Alaska.

1900
Capitals of the District of Alaska.

Juneau
1906

1912
Capital of the Territory of Alaska.

1959
Capital of the State of Alaska.

Arizona[17]Statehood in 1912

Santa Fe (NM)
1848
Capital of the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico 1848–1850.

1850
Capital of the U.S. Territory of New Mexico 1850–1912.

Mesilla (NM)
1862
Capital of the Confederate Territory of Arizona (southern New Mexico and Arizona 1862).

San Antonio (TX)
1862
Capital of the government-in-exile of the Confederate Territory of Arizona 1862–1865.

Fort Whipple
1864
Capitals of the U.S. Territory of Arizona.

Prescott
1864

Tucson
1867

Prescott
1877

Phoenix
1889

1912
Capital of the State of Arizona.

Arkansas[18]Statehood in 1836

Saint-LouisSan LuisSt. Louis
1765
Capital of the Spanish (though predominantly Francophone) district of Alta Louisiana.

1800
Capital of the French district of La Haute-Louisiane.

1804
Capital of the District of Louisiana (under the authority of the Indiana Territory.)

1805
Capital of the Louisiana Territory.

1812
Capital of the Missouri Territory.

Arkansas Post
1819
Capitals of the Arkansaw Territory.[19]

Little Rock
1821

1836
Capital of the State of Arkansas.[19](Washington was the Confederate state capital 1863–1865.)

California[20]Statehood in 1850

Loreto (BCS)
1770
Capitals of the Spanish Virreinato de la Nueva España colonies of las Californias.

Presidio Reál de San Carlos de MontereyMonterey
1777

1804
Capital of the Spanish Virreinato de la Nueva España province of Alta California.

1821
Capital of the Mexican province of Alta California.

1846
Capital of the U.S. military government of California.

1849
Capital of the Provisional Government of California.

Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe
1850
Capitals of the State of California

Vallejo
1852

Benicia
1853

Sacramento[d]
1854

Colorado[21]Statehood in 1876

Denver City[22]
1859
Capitals of the extralegal Territory of Jefferson.

Golden City
1860

Denver City
1861
Capitals of the Territory of Colorado.

Colorado City
1862

Golden City
1862

Denver CityDenver[23]
1867

1876
Capital of the State of Colorado.

ConnecticutStatehood in 1776

Fort Amsterdam (NY)
1625
Capital of the Netherlands colony of New Netherland.

Hartford
1639
Capital of the English Colony of Connecticut 1639–1686.

New-Haven
1640
Capital of the English Colony of New-Haven until its merger into the Connecticut Colony in 1662.

Boston (MA)
1686
Capital of the English Dominion of New-England in America.

Hartford
1689
Capital of the English Colony of Connecticut.

joint capitals
1701
Hartford and New-Haven served as the "co-capitals" of the English Colony of Connecticut, with the Assembly holding its May session in Hartford and its October session in New-Haven.

1707
Hartford and New-Haven joint capitals of the British Colony of Connecticut.

1776
Hartford and New Haven joint capitals of the State of Connecticut.

Hartford
1875
Capital of the State of Connecticut.

DelawareStatehood in 1776

Fort Kristina
1638
Capital of the Swedish colony of Nya Sverige.

Fort AmsterdamNieuw-AmsterdamNew-YorkNieuw-OranjeNew-York (NY)
1655
Capital of the Dutch province of New Netherland.

1664
Capital of the English Colony of New-York.

1673
Capital of the Dutch military government of New Netherland.

1674
Capital of the English Colony of New-York.

Philadelphia (PA)
1682
Capital of the English Colony of Pennsylvania.

New Castle
1704
Capital of the English Lower Counties on the Delaware.

1707
Capital of the British Lower Counties on the Delaware.

1776
Capitals of the State of Delaware.

Dover
1777

Florida[24]Statehood in 1845

Fort de la Caroline
1564
Capital of the French colony of La Caroline 1564–1565.

San AgustínSt. Augustine
1565
Capital of the Spanish colony of La Florida 1565–1763.[15]

1763
Capital of the British province of East Florida 1763–1783.

1783
Capital of the Spanish province of Florida Oriental 1783–1821.

Santa María de OchusePensacola
1763
Capital of the British province of British West Florida 1763–1783.

1783
Capital of the Spanish province of Florida Occidental 1783–1821.

Tallahassee
1824
Capital of the Florida Territory.

1845
Capital of the State of Florida.

Georgia[25]Statehood in 1776

San Agustín
1565
Capital of the Spanish colony of La Florida.[15]

Savannah
1733
Capital of the British proprietary Colony of Georgia.

1755
Capital of the British Province of Georgia.

1776
Capitals of the State of Georgia.

Augusta
1778

Heard's Fort
1780

Augusta
1781

Savannah
1782

Ebenezer
1782

Savannah
1784

Augusta
1786

Louisville
1796

Milledgeville
1807

Macon
1864

Milledgeville
1865

Atlanta
1868

HawaiiStatehood in 1959

Lahaina
1820
Capitals of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Honolulu
1845

1894
Capital of the Republic of Hawaii.

1898
Capital of the Territory of Hawaii.

1959
Capital of the State of Hawaiʻi.

Idaho[26]Statehood in 1890

Oregon City (OR)
1843
Capital of the Provisional Government of Oregon in the Oregon Country.[27]

1848
Capitals of the Territory of Oregon (all of Idaho 1848–1853, southern Idaho 1853–1859.)

Salem (OR)
1851

Olympia (WA)
1853
Capital of the Territory of Washington (northern Idaho 1853–1859, all of Idaho 1859–1863.)

Lewiston
1863
Capitals of the Territory of Idaho.

Boise
1865

1890
Capital of the State of Idaho.

Illinois[28]Statehood in 1818

Marietta (OH)
1788
Capital of the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio.

Vincennes (IN)
1800
Capital of the Territory of Indiana.

Kaskaskia
1809
Capital of the Territory of Illinois.

1818
Capitals of the State of Illinois.

Vandalia
1820

Springfield
1839

IndianaStatehood in 1816

Marietta (OH)
1788
Capital of the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio.

Vincennes
1800
Capitals of the Territory of Indiana.

Corydon
1813

1816
Capitals of the State of Indiana.

Indianapolis
1825

Iowa[29]Statehood in 1846

Saint-LouisSan LuisSt. Louis (MO)
1765
Capital of the Spanish (though predominantly Francophone) district of Alta Louisiana.

1800
Capital of the French district of La Haute-Louisiane.

1804
Capital of the District of Louisiana (under the authority of the Indiana Territory.)

1805
Capital of the Louisiana Territory.

1812
Capital of the Missouri Territory (1812–1821).

Detroit (MI)
1834
Capital of the Territory of Michigan.

Belmont (WI)
1836
Capitals of the Territory of Wisconsin.

Burlington
1837

1838
Capitals of the Territory of Iowa.

Iowa City
1841

1846
Capitals of the State of Iowa.

Des Moines
1857

Kansas[30]Statehood in 1861

Saint-LouisSan LuisSt. Louis
1765
Capital of the Spanish (though predominantly Francophone) district of Alta Louisiana.

1800
Capital of the French district of La Haute-Louisiane.

1804
Capital of the District of Louisiana (under the authority of the Indiana Territory.)

1805
Capital of the Louisiana Territory.

1812
Capital of the Missouri Territory (1812–1821).

Pawnee
1855
Capital of the Kansas Territory (July 2 – July 6).

Shawnee Mission
1855
Capital of the Kansas Territory.

Lecompton
1856
Capital de jure (pro-slavery) of the Territory of Kansas.

Topeka
Capital de facto (anti-slavery) of the Territory of Kansas.

Minneola
1858
Declared capital by territorial legislature, although this action was later declared void.[31]

Topeka
1861
Capital of the State of Kansas.

Kentucky[32]Statehood in 1792

Williamsburg (VA)
1699
Capital of the English Colony of Virginia.

1707
Capital of the British Colony of Virginia.

1776
Capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Richmond (VA)
1780

Frankfort
1792
Capital of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.(The government initially met at Lexington but Frankfort was quickly named the capital. Bowling Green was the rival Confederate state capital 1861–62.)

Louisiana[33]Statehood in 1812

San Agustín
1565
Capital of the Spanish colony of La Florida.[15]

La Mobile
1702
Capitals of the French colony of La Louisiane.

Bilocci
1720

La Nouvelle-OrléansNueva OrleansNew Orleans
1722

1763
Capital of the Spanish district of Baja Louisiana.

1800
Capital of the French district of La Basse-Louisiane.

1804
Capital of the Territory of Orleans.

1812
Capitals of the State of Louisiana.

Donaldsonville
1830

New Orleans
1831

Baton Rouge
1849

Opelousas
1862

Shreveport
1863

New Orleans
1865

Baton Rouge
1882

Maine[34]Statehood in 1820

Île Sainte-Croix
1604
Capitals of the French colony of l'Acadie.

Port-Royal (NS)
1605

Boston (MA)
1630
Capital of the English Colony of Massachusetts Bay.

1686
Capital of the English Dominion of New-England in America.

1689
Capital of the dissident Colony of Massachusetts Bay.

1691
Capital of the English Province of Massachusetts Bay.

1707
Capital of the British Province of Massachusetts Bay.

1774
Capital of the dissident Province of Massachusetts Bay.

1776
Capital of the State of Massachusetts Bay.

1780
Capital of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Portland
1820
Capital of the State of Maine.

1827
Capital de facto of the State of Maine.

Augusta
Capital de jure of the State of Maine.

1832
Capital of the State of Maine.

Maryland[35]Statehood in 1776

St. Mary's City
1634
Capital of the English proprietary Colony of Maryland.

Anne Arundel's TowneAnnapolis
1694
Capital of the English Province of Maryland.

1707
Capital of the British Province of Maryland.

1776
Capital of the State of Maryland.(Capital of the United States of America 1783–1784.)

MassachusettsStatehood in 1776

Plimouth
1620
Capital of the English Colony of New-Plimouth 1620–1686.

Boston
1630
Capital of the English Colony of Massachusetts Bay 1630–1686.

1686
Capital of the English Dominion of New-England in America 1686–1689.

Plimouth
1688
Capital of the dissident Colony of New-Plimouth 1688–1692.

Boston
1689
Capital of the dissident Colony of Massachusetts Bay 1689–1692.

1692
Capital of the English Province of Massachusetts Bay.

1707
Capital of the British Province of Massachusetts Bay.

1774
Capital of the dissident Province of Massachusetts Bay.

1776
Capital of the State of Massachusetts Bay.

1780
Capital of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Michigan[36]Statehood in 1837

Marietta (OH)
1788
Capitals of the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio (all of Michigan 1788–1800, eastern Michigan 1800–1803.)

Chillicothe (OH)
1800

Vincennes (IN)
Capitals of the Territory of Indiana (western Michigan 1800–1803; all of Michigan 1803–1805, a portion of the Upper Peninsula 1805–1816.)

Corydon (IN)
1813

Detroit
1805
Capital of the Territory of Michigan (Lower Peninsula 1805–1818, all of Michigan 1818–1837.)(Detroit was occupied by British Armed Forces 1812–1813.)

1837
Capitals of the State of Michigan.

Lansing
1847

Minnesota[37]Statehood in 1858

Saint-LouisSan LuisSt. Louis (MO)
1765
Capital of the Spanish (though predominantly Francophone) district of Alta Louisiana 1765–1800.

1800
Capital of the French district of la Haute-Louisiane (west of Mississippi River 1800–1804.)

1804
Capital of the District of Louisiana (west of Mississippi River under the authority of the Indiana Territory 1804–1805.)

1805
Capital of the Territory of Louisiana (west of Mississippi River 1805–1812.)

1812
Capital of the Territory of Missouri (west of Mississippi River 1812–1821.)

Marietta (OH)
1788
Capital of the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio (east of Mississippi River 1788–1800.)

Vincennes (IN)
1800
Capital of the Territory of Indiana (east of Mississippi River 1800–1809.)

Kaskaskia (IL)
1809
Capital of the Territory of Illinois (east of Mississippi River 1809–1818.)

Detroit (MI)
1818
Capital of the Territory of Michigan (east of Mississippi River 1818-1834, all of Minnesota 1834–1836.)

Belmont (WI)
1836
Capitals of the Territory of Wisconsin.

Burlington (IA)
1837

1838
Capital of the Territory of Iowa (west of Mississippi River 1838–1841.)

Madison (WI)
Capital of the Territory of Wisconsin (east of Mississippi River 1838–1848.)

Iowa City (IA)
1841
Capital of the Territory of Iowa (west of Mississippi River 1841–1846.)

Saint Paul
1849
Capital of the Territory of Minnesota.

1858
Capital of the State of Minnesota.

Mississippi[38]Statehood in 1817

San Agustín
1565
Capital of the Spanish colony of La Florida.[15]

Savannah
1733
Capital of the British proprietary Colony of Georgia.

1755
Capital of the British Province of Georgia.

1776
Capitals of the State of Georgia.

Augusta (GA)
1778

Heard's Fort (GA)
1780

Augusta (GA)
1781

Savannah (GA)
1782

Ebenezer (GA)
1782

Savannah (GA)
1784

Augusta (GA)
1786

Louisville (GA)
1796

Natchez
1798
Capitals of the Territory of Mississippi.

Washington
1802

Natchez
1817
Capitals of the State of Mississippi.

Jackson
1821

MissouriStatehood in 1821

Saint-LouisSan LuisSt. Louis
1765
Capital of the Spanish (though predominantly Francophone) district of Alta Louisiana.

1800
Capital of the French district of La Haute-Louisiane.

1804
Capital of the District of Louisiana (under the authority of the Indiana Territory.)

1805
Capital of the Louisiana Territory.

1812
Capital of the Missouri Territory.

Saint Charles
1821
Capitals of the State of Missouri.(A Confederate state government in exile operated from Neosho 1861–1863, and from Marshall, Texas, 1863–1865.)

Jefferson City
1826

Montana[39]Statehood in 1889

Saint-LouisSan LuisSt. Louis (MO)
1765
Capital of the Spanish (though predominantly Francophone) district of Alta Louisiana (east of Continental Divide 1763–1800.)

1800
Capital of the French district of la Haute-Louisiane (east of Continental Divide 1800–1804.)

1804
Capital of the District of Louisiana (east of Continental Divide under the authority of the Indiana Territory 1804–1805.)

1805
Capital of the Territory of Louisiana (east of Continental Divide 1805–1812.)

1812
Capital of the Territory of Missouri (east of Continental Divide 1812–1821.)

Fort Vancouver (WA)
1825
Capital de facto of the Oregon Country (west of Continental Divide 1818–1843.)

Oregon City (OR)
1843
Capital of the Provisional Government of Oregon (west of Continental Divide 1843–1848.)

1848
Capitals of the Territory of Oregon (west of Continental Divide 1848–1853.)

Salem (OR)
1851

Olympia (WA)
1853
Capital of the Territory of Washington (west of Continental Divide 1853–1863.)

Omaha (NE)
1854
Capital of the Territory of Nebraska (east of Continental Divide 1854–1861.)

Yankton (SD)
1861
Capital of the Territory of Dakota (east of Continental Divide 1861–1863.)

Lewiston (ID)
1863
Capital of the Territory of Idaho.

Bannack
1864
Capitals of the Territory of Montana.

Virginia City
1865

Helena
1875

1889
Capital of the State of Montana.

NebraskaStatehood in 1867

Saint-LouisSan LuisSt. Louis (MO)
1765
Capital of the Spanish (though predominantly Francophone) district of Alta Louisiana.

1800
Capital of the French district of la Haute-Louisiane.

1804
Capital of the District of Louisiana (under the authority of the Indiana Territory.)

1805
Capital of the Territory of Louisiana.

1812
Capital of the Territory of Missouri (1812–1821).

Omaha
1854
Capitals of the Territory of Nebraska.

LancasterLincoln
1867

1867
Capital of the State of Nebraska.

Nevada[40]Statehood in 1864

Fillmore (UT)
1850
Capitals of the Territory of Utah.

Salt Lake City (UT)
1858

Carson City
1861
Capital of the Territory of Nevada.

1864
Capital of the State of Nevada.

New Hampshire[41]Statehood in 1776

Boston (MA)
1630
Capital of the English Colony of Massachusetts Bay.

Portsmouth
1680
Capital of the English Province of New Hampshire.

Boston (MA)
1686
Capital of the English Dominion of New-England in America.

Portsmouth
1689
Capital of the dissident Province of New Hampshire.

1691
Capital of the English Province of New Hampshire.

1698
Capital of the English Province of New Hampshire under jurisdiction of the Royal Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

1707
Capital of the British Province of New Hampshire under jurisdiction of the Royal Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

1741
Capital of the British Province of New Hampshire.

Exeter
1775
Capital of the Revolutionary War government of New Hampshire.

1776
Capitals of the State of New Hampshire.

Concord
1808

New JerseyStatehood in 1776

Fort Amsterdam (NY)
1625
Capital of the Dutch colony of New Netherland.

1652
Capital of the Dutch province of New Netherland.

Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth)
1665
Capital of the English Province of New Jersey.

Perth Amboy
1673
Capital of the English Province of East Jersey 1673–1688.

Burlington
Capital of the English Province of West Jersey 1673–1688.

Boston (MA)
1688
Capital of the English Dominion of New-England in America 1688–1689.

Perth Amboy
1689
Capital of the English Province of East Jersey 1689–1702.

Burlington
Capital of the English Province of West Jersey 1689–1702.

joint capitals
1702
East Jersey and West Jersey were re-united as the English Province of New Jersey in 1702. Perth Amboy and Burlington served jointly as the capital until 1784.

1707
Joint capitals of the British Province of New Jersey.

1776
Joint capitals of the State of New Jersey.

Trenton
1784
Capital of the State of New Jersey.(Capital of the United States of America in 1784.)

New MexicoStatehood in 1912

San Juan de los Caballeros
1598
Capitals of the Spanish Virreinato de la Nueva España colony of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.

La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís
1610

El Paso del Norte (now Ciudad Juárez CHH)
1680
Capital of the Spanish Virreinato de la Nueva España colony-in-exile of Santa Fe de Nuevo México (Pueblo Revolt 1680–1692).

La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de AsísSanta Fe
1692
Capital of the Spanish Virreinato de la Nueva España colony of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.

1821
Capital of the Mexican province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.

1824
Capital of the Mexican territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.

1846
Capital of the U.S. military government of New Mexico 1846.

1846
Capital of the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico 1846–1850.

1850
Capital of the U.S. Territory of New Mexico 1850–1912.

Mesilla
1862
Capital of the Confederate Territory of Arizona (southern New Mexico and Arizona 1862).

San Antonio (TX)
1862
Capital of the government-in-exile of the Confederate Territory of Arizona 1862–1865.

Santa Fe
1912
Capital of the State of New Mexico.

New YorkStatehood in 1776

Fort AmsterdamNieuw-AmsterdamNew-YorkNieuw-OranjeNew-York
1625
Capital of the Dutch colony of New Netherland (Novum Belgium).

1652
Capital of the Dutch province of New Netherland.

1664
Capital of the English Province of New York.

1673
Capital of the Dutch military government of New Netherland.

1674
Capital of the English Province of New York.

Boston (MA)
1688
Capital of the English Dominion of New-England in America.

New-York
1689
Capital of the dissident government of New-York.

1691
Capital of the English Province of New York.

1707
Capital of the British Province of New York.

1776
Capitals of the State of New York.

Kingston
1777

Hurley
1777

Poughkeepsie
1777

New York
1788
Capital of the State of New York.(Capital of the United States of America 1785–1788 and 1789–1790.)

Albany
1797
Capital of the State of New York.

North CarolinaStatehood in 1776

San Agustín (FL)
1565
Capital of the Spanish colony of la Florida.[15]

Charlestown (SC)
1670
Capital of the English Province of Carolina.

1707
Capital of the British Province of Carolina.

New Bern
1712
Capital of the British Province of North Carolina.

1776
Capitals of the State of North Carolina.

Fayetteville
1789

Raleigh
1794

North DakotaStatehood in 1889

Saint-LouisSan LuisSt. Louis (MO)
1765
Capital of the Spanish (though predominantly Francophone) district of Alta Louisiana.

1800
Capital of the French district of la Haute-Louisiane.

1804
Capital of the District of Louisiana (under the authority of the Indiana Territory.)

1805
Capital of the Territory of Louisiana.

1812
Capital of the Territory of Missouri (1812–1821).

Detroit (MI)
1834
Capital of the Territory of Michigan (east of Missouri River and White Earth River 1834–1836.)

Belmont (WI)
1836
Capitals of the Territory of Wisconsin (east of Missouri River and White Earth River 1836–1838.)

Burlington (IA)
1837

1838
Capitals of the Territory of Iowa (east of Missouri River and White Earth River 1838–1846.)

Iowa City (IA)
1841

Saint Paul (MN)
1849
Capital of the Territory of Minnesota (east of Missouri River and White Earth River 1849–1858.)

Omaha (NE)
1854
Capital of the Territory of Nebraska (west of Missouri River or White Earth River 1854–1861.)

Yankton (SD)
1861
Capitals of the Territory of Dakota.

Bismarck
1883

1889
Capital of the State of North Dakota.

OhioStatehood in 1803

Marietta
1788
Capitals of the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio.

Chillicothe
1800

1803
Capitals of the State of Ohio.

Zanesville
1810

Chillicothe
1812

Columbus
1816

OklahomaStatehood in 1907

Saint-LouisSan LuisSt. Louis (MO)
1765
Capital of the Spanish (though predominantly Francophone) district of Alta Louisiana.

1800
Capital of the French district of la Haute-Louisiane.

1804
Capital of the District of Louisiana (under the authority of the Indiana Territory.)

1805
Capital of the Territory of Louisiana.

1812
Capital of the Territory of Missouri.

Arkansas Post (AR)
1819
Capitals of the Territory of Arkansaw[19] (south of the parallel 36°30' north 1819–1824, southeastern Oklahoma 1824–1828.)

Little Rock (AR)
1821

Tahlequah
1838
Capital of the Cherokee Nation.

Tuskahoma
1838
Capital of the Choctaw Nation.

Tishomingo
1855
Capital of the Chickasaw Nation.

Wewoka
1866
Capital of the Seminole Nation.

Okmulgee
1867
Capital of the Creek Nation.

Pawhuska
?
Capital of the Osage Nation.

Guthrie
1889
Capital of the Territory of Oklahoma.

1907
Capitals of the State of Oklahoma.

Oklahoma City
1910

Oregon[42]Statehood in 1859

Champoeg
1843
Temporary capital of the disputed Oregon Country.

Oregon City
1843
Capital of the Provisional Government of Oregon in the Oregon Country.[27]

1848
Capitals of the Territory of Oregon.

Salem
1851

Corvallis
1855

Salem
1855

1859
Capital of the State of Oregon.

Pennsylvania[43]Statehood in 1776

Philadelphia
1682
Capital of the English proprietary Colony of Pennsylvania.

1707
Capital of the British proprietary Colony of Pennsylvania.

1776
Capital of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.(Capital of the United States of America 1776, 1777, 1778–1783, and 1790–1800.)

Lancaster
1799
Capital of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.(Capital of the United States of America 1777.)

Harrisburg
1812
Capital of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Rhode IslandStatehood in 1776

Providence
1636
Capital of the English Colony of Providence 1636–1644.

Portsmouth
1639
Capital of the English Colony of Aquidneck Island 1639–1644.

1644
Capital of the English Colony of Rhode Island.

Providence
1644
Capital of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

Boston (MA)
1686
Capital of the English Dominion of New-England in America.

Providence
1689
Capital of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

1707
Capital of the British Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

five capitals
1776
From 1776 to 1853, the legislature of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations rotated among the county seats of the state's five counties: Providence, Newport, East Greenwich, South Kingstown, and Bristol.

joint capitals
1854
From 1854 to 1899, the legislature of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations alternated sessions between Providence and Newport.

Providence
1900
Capital of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

South CarolinaStatehood in 1776

San Agustín (FL)
1565
Capital of the Spanish colony of la Florida.[15]

Charlestown
1670
Capital of the English Province of Carolina.

1707
Capital of the British Province of Carolina.

1712
Capital of the British Province of South Carolina.

1776
Capitals of the State of South Carolina.

Columbia
1786

South DakotaStatehood in 1889

Saint-LouisSan LuisSt. Louis (MO)
1765
Capital of the Spanish (though predominantly Francophone) district of Alta Louisiana.

1800
Capital of the French district of la Haute-Louisiane.

1804
Capital of the District of Louisiana (under the authority of the Indiana Territory.)

1805
Capital of the Territory of Louisiana.

1812
Capital of the Territory of Missouri (1812–1821).

Detroit (MI)
1834
Capital of the Territory of Michigan (east of Missouri River 1834–1836.)

Belmont (WI)
1836
Capitals of the Territory of Wisconsin (east of Missouri River 1836–1838.)

Burlington (IA)
1837

1838
Capitals of the Territory of Iowa (east of Missouri River 1838–1846.)

Iowa City (IA)
1841

Saint Paul (MN)
1849
Capital of the Territory of Minnesota (east of Missouri River 1849–1858.)

Omaha (NE)
1854
Capital of the Territory of Nebraska (west of Missouri River 1854–1861.)

Yankton
1861
Capitals of the Territory of Dakota.

Bismarck (ND)
1883

Pierre
1889
Capital of the State of South Dakota.

Tennessee[44]Statehood in 1796

New Bern (NC)
1712
Capital of the British Province of North Carolina.

1776
Capital of the State of North Carolina.

Rocky Mount
1790
Capitals of the Territory South of the River Ohio.

White's FortKnoxville
1791

1796
Capital of the State of Tennessee.

Kingston
1807
Capital of the State of Tennessee for one day in 1807 to fulfill treaty obligations with the Cherokee Nation.

Knoxville
1807
Capitals of the State of Tennessee.

Nashville
1812

Knoxville
1817

Murfreesboro
1818

Nashville
1826

TexasStatehood in 1845

Los Adaes (LA)
1729
Capitals of the Spanish colony of Tejas.

San Antonio de Béxar (now San Antonio)
1772

Saltillo (COA)
1824
Capitals of the Mexican province of Coahuila y Tejas.

Monclova (COA)
1833

Washington (now Washington-on-the-Brazos)
1836
Capitals of the Republic of Texas.

Galveston
1836

Harrisburg
1836

Velasco
1836

Columbia
1836

Houston
1837

Austin
1839

1845
Capital of the State of Texas.

UtahStatehood in 1896

Salt Lake City
1849
Capital of the extralegal State of Deseret.

Fillmore
1850
Capitals of the Territory of Utah.

Salt Lake City
1858

1896
Capital of the State of Utah.

Vermont[45]Statehood in 1791

Westminster
1777
Capitals of the Republic of New Connecticut.

Windsor
1777

1777
Capital of the Vermont Republic.

1791
Capitals of the State of Vermont.

Montpelier
1805

Virginia[46]Statehood in 1776

Jamestown
1619
Capitals of the English Colony of Virginia.

Middle PlantationWilliamsburg
1698

1707
Capital of the British Colony of Virginia.

1776
Capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Richmond
1780
Capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia.(Capital of the Confederate States of America 1861–1865.)(A rival pro-Union state government operated from Wheeling 1861–1863 and from Alexandria 1863–1865.)

Washington[47]Statehood in 1889

Champoeg (OR)
1843
Temporary capital of the disputed Oregon Country.

Oregon City (OR)
1843
Capital of the Provisional Government of Oregon in the Oregon Country.[27]

1848
Capitals of the Territory of Oregon.

Salem (OR)
1851

Olympia
1853
Capital of the Territory of Washington.

1889
Capital of the State of Washington.

West VirginiaStatehood in 1863

Jamestown (VA)
1619
Capitals of the English Colony of Virginia.

Middle Plantation (VA)Williamsburg (VA)
1698

1707
Capital of the British Colony of Virginia.

1776
Capitals of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Richmond (VA)
1780

Wheeling
1861
Capital of the rival pro-Union government of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

1863
Capitals of the State of West Virginia.

Charleston
1870

Wheeling
1875

Charleston
1885

Wisconsin[48]Statehood in 1848

Marietta (OH)
1788
Capital of the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio.

Vincennes (IN)
1800
Capital of the Territory of Indiana.

Kaskaskia (IL)
1809
Capital of the Territory of Illinois.

Detroit (MI)
1818
Capital of the Territory of Michigan.

Belmont
1836
Capitals of the Territory of Wisconsin.

Burlington (IA)
1837

Madison
1838

1848
Capital of the State of Wisconsin.

Wyoming[49]Statehood in 1890

Lewiston (ID)
1863
Capital of the Territory of Idaho.

Yankton (SD)
1864
Capital of the Territory of Dakota.

Cheyenne
1869
Capital of the Territory of Wyoming.

1890
Capital of the State of Wyoming.


document_title: Gold standard

question_text: when did the united states come off the gold standard

question_tokens: when did the united states come off the gold standard

root

text: Gold standard

text: History

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text: Origin

text: The gold specie standard arose from the widespread acceptance of gold as currency.[5] Various commodities have been used as money; typically, the one that loses the least value over time becomes the accepted form.[6] Chemically, gold is of all major metals the one most resistant to corrosion.[citation needed]

tag: p

text: The use of gold as money began thousands of years ago in Asia Minor.[7]

text: During the early and high Middle Ages, the Byzantine gold solidus, commonly known as the bezant, was used widely throughout Europe and the Mediterranean.  However, as the Byzantine Empire's economic influence declined, so too did the use of the bezant.[8]  In its place, European territories chose silver as their currency over gold, leading to the development of silver standards.[citation needed]

text: Silver pennies based on the Roman denarius became the staple coin of Mercia in Great Britain around the time of King Offa, circa 757–796 CE.[9] Similar coins, including Italian denari, French deniers, and Spanish dineros, circulated in Europe. Spanish explorers discovered silver deposits in Mexico in 1522 and at Potosí in Bolivia in 1545.[10] International trade came to depend on coins such as the Spanish dollar, the Maria Theresa thaler, and, later, the United States trade dollar.[citation needed]

text: In modern times, the British West Indies was one of the first regions to adopt a gold specie standard. Following Queen Anne's proclamation of 1704, the British West Indies gold standard was a de facto gold standard based on the Spanish gold doubloon. In 1717, Sir Isaac Newton, the master of the Royal Mint, established a new mint ratio between silver and gold that had the effect of driving silver out of circulation and putting Britain on a gold standard.[11][self-published source]

text: A formal gold specie standard was first established in 1821, when Britain adopted it following the introduction of the gold sovereign by the new Royal Mint at Tower Hill in 1816. The United Province of Canada in 1854, Newfoundland in 1865, and the United States and Germany (de jure) in 1873 adopted gold.  The United States used the eagle as its unit, Germany introduced the new gold mark, while Canada adopted a dual system based on both the American gold eagle and the British gold sovereign.[12]

text: Australia and New Zealand adopted the British gold standard, as did the British West Indies, while Newfoundland was the only British Empire territory to introduce its own gold coin.[13] Royal Mint branches were established in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth for the purpose of minting gold sovereigns from Australia's rich gold deposits.[citation needed]

text: The gold specie standard came to an end in the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Empire with the outbreak of World War I.[citation needed]

text: Silver

text: From 1750 to 1870, wars within Europe as well as an ongoing trade deficit with China (which sold to Europe but had little use for European goods) drained silver from the economies of Western Europe and the United States.  Coins were struck in smaller and smaller numbers, and there was a proliferation of bank and stock notes used as money.

text: United Kingdom

text: In the 1790s, the United Kingdom suffered a silver shortage. It ceased to mint larger silver coins and instead issued "token" silver coins and overstruck foreign coins.  With the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Bank of England began the massive recoinage programme that created standard gold sovereigns, circulating crowns, half-crowns and eventually copper farthings in 1821.  The recoinage of silver after a long drought produced a burst of coins. The United Kingdom struck nearly 40 million shillings between 1816 and 1820, 17 million half crowns and 1.3 million silver crowns.

text: The 1819 Act for the Resumption of Cash Payments set 1823 as the date for resumption of convertibility, which was reached by 1821. Throughout the 1820s, small notes were issued by regional banks. This was restricted in 1826, while the Bank of England was allowed to set up regional branches. In 1833 however, Bank of England notes were made legal tender and redemption by other banks was discouraged.  In 1844, the Bank Charter Act established that Bank of England notes were fully backed by gold and they became the legal standard.  According to the strict interpretation of the gold standard, this 1844 act marked the establishment of a full gold standard for British money.

text: United States

text: In the 1780s, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton recommended to Congress the value of a decimal system. This system would also apply to monies in the United States. The question was what type of standard: gold, silver or both.[14] The United States adopted a silver standard based on the Spanish milled dollar in 1785.

text: International

text: From 1860 to 1871 various attempts to resurrect bi-metallic standards were made, including one based on the gold and silver franc; however, with the rapid influx of silver from new deposits, the expectation of scarce silver ended.

text: The interaction between central banking and currency basis formed the primary source of monetary instability during this period. The combination of a restricted supply of notes, a government monopoly on note issuance and indirectly, a central bank and a single unit of value produced economic stability. Deviation from these conditions produced monetary crises.

text: Devalued notes or leaving silver as a store of value caused economic problems. Governments, demanding specie as payment, could drain the money out of the economy. Economic development expanded need for credit. The need for a solid basis in monetary affairs produced a rapid acceptance of the gold standard in the period that followed.

text: Japan

text: Following Germany's decision after the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War to extract reparations to facilitate a move to the gold standard, Japan gained the needed reserves after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895. For Japan, moving to gold was considered vital for gaining access to Western capital markets.[15]

text: Bimetallic standard

text: US: Pre-Civil War

text: In 1792, Congress passed the Mint and Coinage Act. It authorized the federal government's use of the Bank of the United States to hold its reserves, as well as establish a fixed ratio of gold to the U.S. dollar. Gold and silver coins were legal tender, as was the Spanish real. In 1792 the market price of gold was about 15 times that of silver.[14] Silver coins left circulation, exported to pay for the debts taken on to finance the American Revolutionary War. In 1806 President Jefferson suspended the minting of silver coins. This resulted in a derivative silver standard, since the Bank of the United States was not required to fully back its currency with reserves. This began a long series of attempts by the United States to create a bi-metallic standard.

text: The intention was to use gold for large denominations, and silver for smaller denominations.  A problem with bimetallic standards was that the metals' absolute and relative market prices changed. The mint ratio (the rate at which the mint was obligated to pay/receive for gold relative to silver) remained fixed at 15 ounces of silver to 1 ounce of gold, whereas the market rate fluctuated from 15.5 to 1 to 16 to 1. With the Coinage Act of 1834, Congress passed an act that changed the mint ratio to approximately 16 to 1. Gold discoveries in California in 1848 and later in Australia lowered the gold price relative to silver; this drove silver money from circulation because it was worth more in the market than as money.[16] Passage of the Independent Treasury Act of 1848 placed the U.S. on a strict hard-money standard. Doing business with the American government required gold or silver coins.

text: Government accounts were legally separated from the banking system. However, the mint ratio (the fixed exchange rate between gold and silver at the mint) continued to overvalue gold. In 1853, the US reduced the silver weight of coins to keep them in circulation and in 1857 removed legal tender status from foreign coinage. In 1857 the final crisis of the free banking era began as American banks suspended payment in silver, with ripples through the developing international financial system. Due to the inflationary finance measures undertaken to help pay for the US Civil War, the government found it difficult to pay its obligations in gold or silver and suspended  payments of obligations not legally specified in specie (gold bonds); this led banks to suspend the conversion of bank liabilities (bank notes and deposits) into specie. In 1862 paper money was made legal tender. It was a fiat money (not convertible on demand at a fixed rate into specie). These notes came to be called "greenbacks".[16]

text: US: Post-Civil War

text: After the Civil War, Congress wanted to reestablish the metallic standard at pre-war rates. The market price of gold in greenbacks was above the pre-War fixed price ($20.67 per ounce of gold) requiring deflation to achieve the pre-War price. This was accomplished by growing the stock of money less rapidly than real output. By 1879 the market price matched the mint price of gold. The coinage act of 1873 (also known as the Crime of ‘73) demonetized silver. This act removed the 412.5 grain silver dollar from circulation. Subsequently silver was only used in coins worth less than $1 (fractional currency). With the resumption of convertibility on June 30, 1879 the government again paid its debts in gold, accepted greenbacks for customs and redeemed greenbacks on demand in gold. Greenbacks were therefore perfect substitutes for gold coins. During the latter part of the nineteenth century the use of silver and a return to the bimetallic standard were recurrent political issues, raised especially by William Jennings Bryan, the People's Party and the  Free Silver movement. In 1900 the gold dollar was declared the standard unit of account and a gold reserve for government issued paper notes was established. Greenbacks, silver certificates, and silver dollars continued to be legal tender, all redeemable in gold.[16]

text: Fluctuations in the US gold stock, 1862–1877

text:
US gold stock

1862
59 tons

1866
81 tons

1875
50 tons

1878
78 tons

text: The US had a gold stock of 1.9 million ounces (59 t) in 1862. Stocks rose to 2.6 million ounces (81 t) in 1866, declined in 1875 to 1.6 million ounces (50 t) and rose to 2.5 million ounces (78 t) in 1878. Net exports did not mirror that pattern. In the decade before the Civil War net exports were roughly constant; postwar they varied erratically around pre-war levels, but fell significantly in 1877 and became negative in 1878 and 1879. The net import of gold meant that the foreign demand for American currency to purchase goods, services, and investments exceeded the corresponding American demands for foreign currencies. In the final years of the greenback period (1862–1879), gold production increased while gold exports decreased.  The decrease in gold exports was considered by some to be a result of changing monetary conditions. The demands for gold during this period were as a speculative vehicle, and for its primary use in the foreign exchange markets financing international trade. The major effect of the increase in gold demand by the public and Treasury was to reduce exports of gold and increase the Greenback price of gold relative to purchasing power.[17]

text: Gold exchange standard

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Towards the end of the 19th century, some silver standard countries began to peg their silver coin units to the gold standards of the United Kingdom or the United States. In 1898, British India pegged the silver rupee to the pound sterling at a fixed rate of 1s 4d, while in 1906, the Straits Settlements adopted a gold exchange standard against sterling, fixing the silver Straits dollar at 2s 4d.

text: Around the start of the 20th century, the Philippines pegged the silver peso/dollar to the U.S. dollar at 50 cents. This move was assisted by the passage of the Philippines Coinage Act by the United States Congress on March 3, 1903.[18] Around the same time Mexico and Japan pegged their currencies to the dollar. When Siam adopted a gold exchange standard in 1908, only China and Hong Kong remained on the silver standard.

text: When adopting the gold standard, many European nations changed the name of their currency, for instance from Daler (Sweden and Denmark) or Gulden (Austria-Hungary) to Crown, since the former names were traditionally associated with silver coins and the latter with gold coins.

text: Impact of World War I

text: Governments with insufficient tax revenue suspended convertibility repeatedly in the 19th century. The real test, however, came in the form of World War I, a test which "it failed utterly" according to economist Richard Lipsey.[5]

text: By the end of 1913, the classical gold standard was at its peak but World War I caused many countries to suspend or abandon it.[19] According to Lawrence Officer the main cause of the gold standard’s failure to resume its previous position after World War I was “the Bank of England's precarious liquidity position and the gold-exchange standard.” A run on sterling caused Britain to impose exchange controls that fatally weakened the standard; convertibility was not legally suspended, but gold prices no longer played the role that they did before.[20] In financing the war and abandoning gold, many of the belligerents suffered drastic inflations. Price levels doubled in the US and Britain, tripled in France and quadrupled in Italy. Exchange rates changed less, even though European inflations were more severe than America’s. This meant that the costs of American goods decreased relative to those in Europe. Between August 1914 and spring of 1915, the dollar value of US exports tripled and its trade surplus exceeded $1 billion for the first time.[21]

text: Ultimately, the system could not deal quickly enough with the large balance of payments deficits and surpluses; this was previously attributed to downward wage rigidity brought about by the advent of unionized labor, but is now considered as an inherent fault of the system that arose under the pressures of war and rapid technological change. In any case, prices had not reached equilibrium by the time of the Great Depression, which served to kill off the system completely.[5]

text: For example, Germany had gone off the gold standard in 1914, and could not effectively return to it because War reparations had cost it much of its gold reserves. During the Occupation of the Ruhr the German central bank (Reichsbank) issued enormous sums of non-convertible marks to support workers who were on strike against the French occupation and to buy foreign currency for reparations; this led to the German hyperinflation of the early 1920s and the decimation of the German middle class.

text: The US did not suspend the gold standard during the war.  The newly created Federal Reserve intervened in currency markets and sold bonds to “sterilize”[vague] some of the gold imports that would have otherwise increased the stock of money.[citation needed] By 1927 many countries had returned to the gold standard.[16] As a result of World War I the United States, which had been a net debtor country, had become a net creditor by 1919.[22]

text: Abandonment of the gold standard

text: The gold specie standard ended in the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Empire at the outbreak of World War I, when Treasury notes replaced the circulation of gold sovereigns and gold half sovereigns.  Legally, the gold specie standard was not repealed. The end of the gold standard was successfully effected by the Bank of England through appeals to patriotism urging citizens not to redeem paper money for gold specie. It was only in 1925, when Britain returned to the gold standard in conjunction with Australia and South Africa that the gold specie standard was officially ended.

text: The British Gold Standard Act 1925 both introduced the gold bullion standard and simultaneously repealed the gold specie standard. The new standard ended the circulation of gold specie coins. Instead, the law compelled the authorities to sell gold bullion on demand at a fixed price, but "only in the form of bars containing approximately four hundred ounces troy [12 kg] of fine gold".[23][24] John Maynard Keynes, citing deflationary dangers, argued against resumption of the gold standard.[25] By fixing the price at the pre-war rate of $4.86,[clarification needed] Churchill is argued to have made an error that led to depression, unemployment and the 1926 general strike. The decision was described by Andrew Turnbull as a "historic mistake".[26]

text: Many other countries followed Britain in returning to the gold standard, this was followed by a period of relative stability but also deflation.[27] This state of affairs lasted until the Great Depression (1929–1939) forced countries off the gold standard. In September 19, 1931, speculative attacks on the pound forced Britain to abandon the gold standard. Loans from American and French Central Banks of £50,000,000 were insufficient and exhausted in a matter of weeks, due to large gold outflows across the Atlantic.[28][29][30] The British benefited from this departure. They could now use monetary policy to stimulate the economy. Australia and New Zealand had already left the standard and Canada quickly followed suit.

text: The interwar partially backed gold standard was inherently unstable, because of the conflict between the expansion of liabilities to foreign central banks and the resulting deterioration in the Bank of England's reserve ratio. France was then attempting to make Paris a world class financial center, and it received large gold flows as well.[31]

text: In May 1931 a run on Austria's largest commercial bank caused it to fail. The run spread to Germany, where the central bank also collapsed. International financial assistance was too late and in July 1931 Germany adopted exchange controls, followed by Austria in October. The Austrian and German experiences, as well as British budgetary and political difficulties, were among the factors that destroyed confidence in sterling, which occurred in mid-July 1931. Runs ensued and the Bank of England lost much of its reserves.

text: Depression and World War II

text: Great Depression

text: Some economic historians, such as Barry Eichengreen, blame the gold standard of the 1920s for prolonging the economic depression which started in 1929 and lasted for about a decade.[33] In the United States, adherence to the gold standard prevented the Federal Reserve from expanding the money supply to stimulate the economy, fund insolvent banks and fund government deficits that could "prime the pump" for an expansion. Once off the gold standard, it became free to engage in such money creation. The gold standard limited the flexibility of the central banks' monetary policy by limiting their ability to expand the money supply. In the US, the central bank was required by the Federal Reserve Act (1913) to have gold backing 40% of its demand notes.[34] Others including former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Nobel Prize-winner Milton Friedman place the blame for the severity and length of the Great Depression at the feet of the Federal Reserve, mostly due to the deliberate tightening of monetary policy even after the gold standard.[35] They blamed the US major economic contraction in 1937 on tightening of monetary policy resulting in higher cost of capital, weaker securities markets, reduced net government contribution to income, the undistributed profits tax and higher labor costs.[36] The money supply peaked in March 1937, with a trough in May 1938.[37]

text: Higher interest rates intensified the deflationary pressure on the dollar and reduced investment in U.S. banks.  Commercial banks converted Federal Reserve Notes to gold in 1931, reducing its gold reserves and forcing a corresponding reduction in the amount of currency in circulation. This speculative attack created a panic in the U.S. banking system.  Fearing imminent devaluation many depositors withdrew funds from U.S. banks.[38] As bank runs grew, a reverse multiplier effect caused a contraction in the money supply.[39] Additionally the New York Fed had loaned over $150 million in gold (over 240 tons) to European Central Banks. This transfer contracted the US money supply. The foreign loans became questionable once Britain, Germany, Austria and other European countries went off the gold standard in 1931 and weakened confidence in the dollar.[40]

text: The forced contraction of the money supply resulted in deflation. Even as nominal interest rates dropped, inflation-adjusted real interest rates remained high, rewarding those who held onto money instead of spending it, further slowing the economy.[41] Recovery in the United States was slower than in Britain, in part due to Congressional reluctance to abandon the gold standard and float the U.S. currency as Britain had done.[42]

text: In the early 1930s, the Federal Reserve defended the dollar by raising interest rates, trying to increase the demand for dollars. This helped attract international investors who bought foreign assets with gold.[38]

text: Congress passed the Gold Reserve Act on 30 January 1934; the measure nationalized all gold by ordering Federal Reserve banks to turn over their supply to the U.S. Treasury. In return the banks received gold certificates to be used as reserves against deposits and Federal Reserve notes. The act also authorized the president to devalue the gold dollar. Under this authority the president, on 31 January 1934, changed the value of the dollar from $20.67 to the troy ounce to $35 to the troy ounce, a devaluation of over 40%.

text: Other factors in the prolongation of the Great Depression include trade wars and the reduction in international trade caused by barriers such as Smoot–Hawley Tariff in the US and the Imperial Preference policies of Great Britain,[43] the failure of central banks to act responsibly,[44] government policies designed to prevent wages from falling, such as the Davis–Bacon Act of 1931, during the deflationary period resulting in production costs dropping slower than sales prices, thereby injuring business profits[45] and increases in taxes to reduce budget deficits and to support new programs such as Social Security. The US top marginal income tax rate went from 25% to 63% in 1932 and to 79% in 1936,[46] while the bottom rate increased over tenfold, from .375% in 1929 to 4% in 1932.[47] The concurrent massive drought resulted in the US Dust Bowl.

text: The Austrian School asserted that the Great Depression was the result of a credit bust.[48] Alan Greenspan wrote that the bank failures of the 1930s were sparked by Great Britain dropping the gold standard in 1931. This act "tore asunder" any remaining confidence in the banking system.[49] Financial historian  Niall Ferguson wrote that what made the Great Depression truly 'great' was the European banking crisis of 1931.[50] According to Fed Chairman Marriner Eccles, the root cause was the concentration of wealth resulting in a stagnating or decreasing standard of living for the poor and middle class. These classes went into debt, producing the credit explosion of the 1920s. Eventually the debt load grew too heavy, resulting in the massive defaults and financial panics of the 1930s.[51]

text: World War II

text: Under the Bretton Woods international monetary agreement of 1944, the gold standard was kept without domestic convertibility. The role of gold was severely constrained, as other countries’ currencies were fixed in terms of the dollar. Many countries kept reserves in gold and settled accounts in gold. Still they preferred to settle balances with other currencies, with the American dollar becoming the favorite. The International Monetary Fund was established to help with the exchange process and assist nations in maintaining fixed rates. Within Bretton Woods adjustment was cushioned through credits that helped countries avoid deflation. Under the old standard, a country with an overvalued currency would lose gold and experience deflation until the currency was again valued correctly. Most countries defined their currencies in terms of dollars, but some countries imposed trading restrictions to protect reserves and exchange rates. Therefore, most countries' currencies were still basically inconvertible. In the late 1950s, the exchange restrictions were dropped and gold became an important element in international financial settlements.[16]

text: Bretton Woods

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: After the Second World War, a system similar to a gold standard and sometimes described as a "gold exchange standard" was established by the Bretton Woods Agreements. Under this system, many countries fixed their exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar and central banks could exchange dollar holdings into gold at the official exchange rate of $35 per ounce; this option was not available to firms or individuals. All currencies pegged to the dollar thereby had a fixed value in terms of gold.[5]

text: Starting in the 1959–1969 administration of President Charles de Gaulle and continuing until 1970, France reduced its dollar reserves, exchanging them for gold at the official exchange rate, reducing US economic influence. This, along with the fiscal strain of federal expenditures for the Vietnam War and persistent balance of payments deficits, led U.S. President Richard Nixon to end international convertibility of the U.S. dollar to gold on August 15, 1971 (the "Nixon Shock").

text: This was meant to be a temporary measure, with the gold price of the dollar and the official rate of exchanges remaining constant. Revaluing currencies was the main purpose of this plan. No official revaluation or redemption occurred. The dollar subsequently floated. In December 1971, the "Smithsonian Agreement" was reached. In this agreement, the dollar was devalued from $35 per troy ounce of gold to $38. Other countries' currencies appreciated. However, gold convertibility did not resume. In October 1973, the price was raised to $42.22. Once again, the devaluation was insufficient. Within two weeks of the second devaluation the dollar was left to float. The $42.22 par value was made official in September 1973, long after it had been abandoned in practice. In October 1976, the government officially changed the definition of the dollar; references to gold were removed from statutes. From this point, the international monetary system was made of pure fiat money.

text: Production of gold

text: An estimated total of 174,100 tonnes of gold have been mined in human history, according to GFMS as of 2012. This is roughly equivalent to 5.6 billion troy ounces or, in terms of volume, about 9,261 cubic metres (327,000 cu ft), or a cube 21 metres (69 ft) on a side. There are varying estimates of the total volume of gold mined. One reason for the variance is that gold has been mined for thousands of years. Another reason is that some nations are not particularly open about how much gold is being mined. In addition, it is difficult to account for the gold output in illegal mining activities.[52]

text: World production for 2011 was circa 2,700 tonnes. Since the 1950s, annual gold output growth has approximately kept pace with world population growth (i.e. a doubling in this period)[53] although it has lagged behind world economic growth (approximately 8-fold increase since the 1950s[54], and 4x since 1980[55]).

text: Theory

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Commodity money is inconvenient to store and transport in large amounts. Furthermore, it does not allow a government to manipulate the flow of commerce with the same ease that a fiat currency does. As such, commodity money gave way to representative money and gold and other specie were retained as its backing.

text: Gold was a preferred form of money due to its rarity, durability, divisibility, fungibility and ease of identification,[56] often in conjunction with silver. Silver was typically the main circulating medium, with gold as the monetary reserve. Commodity money was anonymous, as identifying marks can be removed. Commodity money retains its value despite what may happen to the monetary authority. After the fall of South Vietnam, many refugees carried their wealth to the West in gold after the national currency became worthless.[citation needed]

text: Under commodity standards currency itself has no intrinsic value, but is accepted by traders because it can be redeemed any time for the equivalent specie. A US silver certificate, for example, could be redeemed for an actual piece of silver.

text: Representative money and the gold standard protect citizens from hyperinflation and other abuses of monetary policy, as were seen in some countries during the Great Depression. Commodity money conversely led to deflation and bank runs.

text: Countries that left the gold standard earlier than other countries recovered from the Great Depression sooner. For example, Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries, which left the gold standard in 1931, recovered much earlier than France and Belgium, which remained on gold much longer. Countries such as China, which had a silver standard, almost entirely avoided the depression (due to the fact it was then barely integrated into the global economy). The connection between leaving the gold standard and the severity and duration of the depression was consistent for dozens of countries, including developing countries. This may explain why the experience and length of the depression differed between national economies.[57]

text: Variations

text: A full or 100%-reserve gold standard exists when the monetary authority holds sufficient gold to convert all the circulating representative money into gold at the promised exchange rate. It is sometimes referred to as the gold specie standard to more easily distinguish it. Opponents of a full standard consider it difficult to implement, saying that the quantity of gold in the world is too small to sustain worldwide economic activity at or near current gold prices; implementation would entail a many-fold increase in the price of gold.[citation needed] Gold standard proponents have said, "Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income."[58] While prices would necessarily adjust to the supply of gold, the process may involve considerable economic disruption, as was experienced during earlier attempts to maintain gold standards.[59]

text: In an international gold-standard system (which is necessarily based on an internal gold standard in the countries concerned),[60] gold or a currency that is convertible into gold at a fixed price is used to make international payments. Under such a system, when exchange rates rise above or fall below the fixed mint rate by more than the cost of shipping gold, inflows or outflows occur until rates return to the official level. International gold standards often limit which entities have the right to redeem currency for gold.

text: Advantages

text:
Long-term price stability has been described as one of the virtues of the gold standard.[61] The gold standard makes it difficult for governments to inflate prices through expanding the money supply. Under the gold standard, significant inflation is rare, and hyperinflation is essentially impossible because the money supply can only grow at the rate that the gold supply increases. High inflation under a gold standard is seen only when warfare destroys a large part of an economy, reducing the production of goods, or when a major new gold source becomes available.[62] In the U.S., inflation occurred during the Civil War, which destroyed the economy of the South.[63] Inflation also followed the California Gold Rush that made large amounts of gold available for minting.[64] Historical data shows that the magnitude of short run swings in prices were far higher under the gold standard.[65][61]
The gold standard provides fixed international exchange rates between participating countries and thus reduces uncertainty in international trade. Historically, imbalances between price levels were offset by a balance-of-payment adjustment mechanism called the "price–specie flow mechanism".[62] Gold used to pay for imports reduces the money supply of importing nations, causing deflation, which makes them more competitive, while the importation of gold by net exporters serves to increase their money supply, causing inflation, making them less competitive.[66]
A gold standard does not allow some types of financial repression.[67] Financial repression acts as a mechanism to transfer wealth from creditors to debtors, particularly the governments that practice it. Financial repression is most successful in reducing debt when accompanied by inflation and can be considered a form of taxation.[68][69] In 1966 Alan Greenspan wrote "Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard."[70]

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text: Disadvantages

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The unequal distribution of gold deposits makes the gold standard more advantageous for those countries that produce gold.[71] In 2010 the largest producers of gold, in order, were China, Australia, U.S., South Africa and Russia.[72] The country with the largest unmined gold deposits is Australia.[73]
Some economists believe that the gold standard acts as a limit on economic growth. "As an economy's productive capacity grows, then so should its money supply. Because a gold standard requires that money be backed in the metal, then the scarcity of the metal constrains the ability of the economy to produce more capital and grow."[74]
Mainstream economists believe that economic recessions can be largely mitigated by increasing the money supply during economic downturns.[75] A gold standard means that the money supply would be determined by the gold supply and hence monetary policy could no longer be used to stabilize the economy.[76] The gold standard is often blamed for prolonging the Great Depression, as under the gold standard, central banks could not expand credit at a fast enough rate to offset deflationary forces.[77]
Although the gold standard brings long-run price stability, it is historically associated with high short-run price volatility.[61][78] It has been argued by Schwartz, among others, that instability in short-term price levels can lead to financial instability as lenders and borrowers become uncertain about the value of debt.[78]
Deflation punishes debtors.[79][80] Real debt burdens therefore rise, causing borrowers to cut spending to service their debts or to default. Lenders become wealthier, but may choose to save some of the additional wealth, reducing GDP.[81]
The money supply would essentially be determined by the rate of gold production. When gold stocks increase more rapidly than the economy, there is inflation and the reverse is also true.[61][82] The consensus view is that the gold standard contributed to the severity and length of the Great Depression.[83][84]
Hamilton contended that the gold standard is susceptible to speculative attacks when a government's financial position appears weak. Conversely, this threat discourages governments from engaging in risky policy (see moral hazard). For example, the U.S. was forced to contract the money supply and raise interest rates in September 1931 to defend the dollar after speculators forced the UK off the gold standard.[84][85][86][87]
Devaluing a currency under a gold standard would generally produce sharper changes than the smooth declines seen in fiat currencies, depending on the method of devaluation.[88]
Most economists favor a low, positive rate of inflation of around 2%. This reflects fear of deflationary shocks and the belief that active monetary policy can dampen fluctuations in output and unemployment. Inflation gives them room to tighten policy without inducing deflation.[89]
A gold standard provides practical constraints against the measures that central banks might otherwise use to respond to economic crises.[90] Creation of new money reduces interest rates and thereby increases demand for new lower cost debt, raising the demand for money.[91]

text: Advocates

text: A return to the gold standard was considered by the US Gold Commission back in 1982, but found only minority support.[92] In 2001 Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad proposed a new currency that would be used initially for international trade among Muslim nations, using the Islamic gold dinar, defined as 4.25 grams of pure (24-carat) gold. Mahathir claimed it would be a stable unit of account and a political symbol of unity between Islamic nations.  This would purportedly reduce dependence on the US dollar and establish a non-debt-backed currency in accord with Sharia law that prohibited the charging of interest.[93] As of  2013[update] the global monetary system continued to rely on the US dollar as the main reserve currency.[94]

text: Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan acknowledged he was one of "a small minority" within the central bank that had some positive view on the gold standard.[95] In a 1966 essay he contributed to a book by Ayn Rand, titled "Gold and Economic Freedom", Greenspan argued the case for returning to a 'pure' gold standard; in that essay he described supporters of fiat currencies as "welfare statists" intending to use monetary policy to finance deficit spending.[96] More recently he claimed that by focusing on targeting inflation "central bankers have behaved as though we were on the gold standard", rendering a return to the standard unnecessary.[97]

text: Similarly, economists like Robert Barro argued that whilst some form of "monetary constitution"  is essential for stable, depoliticized monetary policy, the form this constitution takes—for example, a gold standard, some other commodity-based standard, or a fiat currency with fixed rules for determining the quantity of money—is considerably less important.[98]

text: The gold standard is supported by many followers of the Austrian School of Economics, free-market libertarians and some supply-siders.[99]

text: US politics

text: In the United States, strict constitutionalists object to the government issuing fiat currency through central banks. Some gold-standard advocates also call for a mandated end to fractional-reserve banking. Many similar alternatives have been suggested, including energy-based currencies, collections of currencies or commodities, with gold as one component.

text: Former congressman Ron Paul is a long-term, high-profile advocate of a gold standard, but has also expressed support for using a standard based on a basket of commodities that better reflects the state of the economy.[100]

text: In 2011 the Utah legislature passed a bill to accept federally issued gold and silver coins as legal tender to pay taxes.[101] As federally issued currency, the coins were already legal tender for taxes, although the market price of their metal content currently exceeds their monetary value. Similar legislation is under consideration in other US states.[102] The bill was initiated by newly elected Republican Party legislators associated with the Tea Party movement and was driven by anxiety over the policies of President Barack Obama.[103]

text: In 2013, the Arizona Legislature passed SB 1439, which would have made gold and silver coin a legal tender in payment of debt, but the bill was vetoed by the Governor.[104]

text: In 2015, some candidates for the 2016 presidential election advocated for a gold standard, based on concern that the Federal Reserve’s attempts to increase economic growth may create inflation. Economic historians did not agree with candidate's assertions that the gold standard would benefit the US economy.[105]

text: Critics

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In 2012 a poll of 40 U.S. economists in the IGM Economic Experts Panel found that none of them agreed with a claim that a return to the gold standard would result in "price-stability and employment outcomes [that] would be better for the average American." The panel of polled economists included past Nobel Prize winners, former economic advisers to both Republican and Democratic presidents, and senior faculty from Harvard, Chicago, Stanford, MIT, and other well-known research universities. (The specific question posed to the economists was: "If the US replaced its discretionary monetary policy regime with a gold standard, defining a 'dollar' as a specific number of ounces of gold, the price-stability and employment outcomes would be better for the average American.")
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text: The economist Allan H. Meltzer of Carnegie Mellon University presented arguments against Ron Paul's advocacy of the gold standard since the 1970s.  He sometimes summarizes his opposition by stating simply, "[W]e don’t have the gold standard. It’s not because we don’t know about the gold standard, it’s because we do."[106]