dollar of the daddies

English

Alternative forms

• dollar of our daddies

Etymology

A parodic alteration of dollar of the fathers (referring to the Founding Fathers or one's ancestors).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɑlɚ ə(v) ðə ˌdædiz/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɒlə‿ɹə(v) ðə ˌdadiz/

Noun

dollar of the daddies (plural dollars of the daddies)

1. (obsolete, colloquial) The pre-1873 American silver dollar.
   • 1877, “Currency”, in American Journal of Numismatics‎^[1], volume XIII, Boston Numismatic Society, page 108:

     And now irreverent jokers complain that the "Dollar of the Daddies" is below pa.

   • 1896, “Appendix”, in Congressional Record: containing the procedures and debates of the Fifty-Fourth Congress, First Session‎^[2], volume XXVIII, Government Printing Office, page 127:

     You say that you “want to restore silver"; now let us have the old conditions. “We want the 'dollar of the daddies',” is your cry.

   • 1898 September, Alexander E. Outerbridge Jr., “Curiosities of American Coinage”, in Popular Science Monthly‎^[3], volume 53, D. Appleton & Company, page 601:

     Many persons believe that the so-called "dollar of the daddies," weighing 412½ grains (nine tenths fine), having a ratio to gold of "16 to 1" in value when first coined, was the original dollar of the Constitution.

Usage notes

• This term was used with invective by opponents of free silver.