The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 17, April 25, 2004, Article 16

WHY IT'S CALLED AN EAGLE

  Max Spiegel writes: "I would like to respond to the question
  sent to Lou Jordan, asking "why the word 'eagle' was selected
  to define specific gold denominations mentioned in Section 9
  of the Act of April 2, 1792."

  The American bald eagle had been used on colonial coinage
  for many before the passing of the Coinage Act of 1792.  It
  became a sort of national symbol and was a key element of
  the Great Seal of the United States, which was adopted in
  1782. Five years later, the bald eagle was officially made
  the emblem of the United States. In 1790, Congress called
  upon Alexander Hamilton to craft a proposal for the nation's
  first coinage which he submitted on June 20, 1790. In his
  letter to Congress, he stated that the $10 coin be called the
  eagle and depict one. Although it seems to be an obvious
  choice, being the national emblem, Hamilton stated that he
  only chose the eagle because "nothing else occurred" to him.
  When Congress drafted the Coinage Act of 1792, which
  was passed on April 2 of that year, they used Hamilton's
  proposal as a guideline and thus decided to call our largest
  denomination the "eagle." They subsequently named all
  other gold coinage (excluding the $1 and $3, which were
  minted later) based on the "eagle."  I hope this answers
  your question."

  Chris Fuccione also had the answer, found in Don Taxay's
  "U.S. Mint and Coinage."  He writes:  "He (Alexander
  Hamilton) suggested that the dollar be known also as the
  "unit" and its tenth part as simply a "tenth."  The largest
  gold piece might be called an "eagle." The appellation, he
  admitted, was not very expressive, but he could think of
  nothing better........."

  David Klinger reports a slightly different version of events,
  but it may well be that Hamilton was the originator here,
  too.  He writes: "In the "Dictionary of Coin Names", by
  Adrian Room, and published in London (1987), the entry
  for Eagle reads (in part):

  "Eagle - The name was proposed in 1785 by President-to-be
  Jefferson for the 10-dollar coin introduced in the United States
  in 1795. At first, the representation of the eagle on the
  reverse was informal, but from 1797 a heraldic type appeared."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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