National Dollar Day Date in the current year: August 8, 2024

The United States dollar (USD) is the official currency of the United States and its territories, as well as 11 more countries and territories: Bonaire, the British Virgin Islands, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Timor-Leste, Turks and Caicos, and Zimbabwe. Besides, many countries use the American dollar as the de facto currency. The U.S. dollar is the most widely used currency in international transactions and an important reserve currency.

Prior to the independence of the United States, there were several types of money in the Thirteen Colonies: coins, banknotes, and trade-based commodity money used when cash was scarce (beaver skins, tobacco, wampum). The most widely circulated coin in the Thirteen Colonies was the Spanish dollar minted by the Spanish Empire.

The first money issued by the Continental Congress after the beginning of the American Revolutionary was Continental currency (Continentals) denominated in dollars. It collapsed in the beginning of the 1780s due to inflation.

In 1781, Founding Father and Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton recommended that financier Robert Morris be appointed as Superintendent of Finance. Working together, Hamilton and Morris established the Bank of North America, laying the foundation of the country’s financial system. On July 6, 1785, the Continental Congress authorized the issuance of the US dollar, and on August 8, 1786, the Congress approved the division of coins. The latter date is regarded by some as the birthday of the American dollar and celebrated as National Dollar Day.

The United States dollar was officially created as the standard unit of money in the country by the Coinage Act of 1792. The first official circulation coin, the Fugio cent (the Franklin cent), was produced in 1787, and the first one-dollar bill was issued in 1862. It featured a portrait of Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury. The first one-dollar bill featuring a portrait of George Washington was released in 1869.

Today, circulating coins in the United States are 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents, and 1 dollar, and circulating banknotes are one dollar, two dollars, five dollars, ten dollars, twenty dollars, fifty dollars, and one hundred dollars. Due to their limited use, two-dollar bills are not printed as frequently as other denominations and are scarce in circulation.

It is unclear who and when came up with the idea of observing National Dollar Day but it’s great that someone did because the dollar surely deserves to be celebrated. You can observe the holiday by learning interesting facts about the official currency of the United States and famous people depicted on dollar bills, taking a pledge to save a dollar a day for a year, starting a dollar coin collection, spending a few dollars on something that makes you happy, and spreading the word about the holiday on social media with the hashtags #NationalDollarDay and #DollarDay.