An economic system where two metals, typically gold and silver, are both used as standards of value with a fixed ratio between them.
From 'bimetallic' plus '-ism.' The term describes the 19th-century economic theory and movement that competed against single-metal (gold standard) monetary systems.
Bimetallism divided America in the 1890s—farmers and workers wanted 'free silver' to have more money, while Eastern bankers and wealthy people wanted the gold standard to keep money scarce and valuable.
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