Passage of the Coinage Act

Date: April 22, 1864 • Location: Washington, United States

U.S. Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized the minting of the two-cent piece (pictured), the first U.S. coin to bear the phrase "In God We Trust".

The Coinage Act of 1864 was a United States federal law passed on April 22, 1864, which changed the composition of the one-cent coin and authorized the minting of the two-cent coin. The law also made it illegal to privately mint one and two cent coins for circulation, thus effectively ending the production of Civil War tokens.