In the US, hard money is sometimes referred to as Bentonian, after Senator
Thomas Hart Benton, who was an advocate for the hard money policies of
Andrew Jackson. In Benton's view,
fiat currency favored rich urban Easterners at the expense of the small farmers and tradespeople of the West. He proposed a law requiring payment for federal land in hard currency only, which was defeated in Congress but later enshrined in an executive order, the
Specie Circular. ==See also==