Abstract: During the Civil War federal garvernment issued large amount of irredeemable greenbacks.After the war,Republic government tried to repeat the greenbacks and enacted the Resumption Act in 1875 to restore gold redemption of paper money.However,as the farmers demanded inflation so as to increase the price of agricultural products and to relieve the heavy burden of debt ,they launched in succession the greenbacks movement and the free silver movement.Because of the circulation of large quantity of greenbacks and silver money,the chaotic monetary system was on the verge of disruption.In order to ensure steady money value and to safeguard investment confidence ,the entrepreneurs atempted to legally establish gold as the sole monetary standard ,and for this they launched the sound money movement. The struggle between the inflationists and the advocators of sound money finally showed down in the presidential election of 1896.The victory of the advocators of gold led to the enacting of the Currency Act of 1900.

Key words: Resumption Act, greenbacks, free silver, sound money, Gold Standard Act