United States Statutes at Large/Volume 1/2nd Congress/1st Session/Chapter 39
Chap. XXXIX.—An Act to provide for a Copper Coinage.
Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,Director of the mint to purchase copper and have coined into cents, &c.
April 24, 1800, ch. 1. That the director of the mint, with the approbation of the President of the United States, be authorized to contract for and purchase a quantity of copper, not exceeding one hundred and fifty tons, and that the said director, as soon as the needful preparations shall be made, cause the copper by him purchased to be coined at the mint into cents and half cents, pursuant to “the act establishing a mint, and regulating the coins of the United States;”1792, ch. 16.
whence to issue. and that the said cents and half cents, as they shall be coined, be paid into the treasury of the United States, thence to issue into circulation.
Director to publish when a certain sum has been paid into the Treasury.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That after the expiration of six calendar months from the time when there shall have been paid into the treasury by the said director, in cents and half cents, a sum not less than fifty thousand dollars, which time shall forthwith be announced by the treasurer in at least two gazettes or newspapers, published at the seat of the government of the United States, for the time being, no copper coins or pieces whatsoever, except the said cents and half cents, shall pass current as money, or shall be paid, or offered to be paid or received in payment for any debt, demand, claim, matter or thing whatsoever; Penalty for offering to pass other copper coins.and all copper coins or pieces, except the said cents and half cents, which shall be paid or offered to be paid or received in payment contrary to the prohibition aforesaid, shall be forfeited, and every person by whom any of them shall have been so paid or offered to be paid or received in payment, shall also forfeit the sum of ten dollars, and the said forfeiture and penalty shall and may be recovered with costs of suit for the benefit of any person or persons by whom information of the incurring thereof shall have been given.
Approved, May 8, 1792.