bullion state

Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.

The State of Missouri; so called in consequence of the exertions made by its Senator, Mr. Benton, in favor of a gold and silver currency, in opposition to banks and a paper currency. The honorable Senator was often nicknamed old Bullion, and the State he represented, the Bullion State.


At the Democratic meeting in New York, June 12, 1848, to ratify the nomination of Gen. Cass, the Hon. James Bowlin, of Missouri, in denouncing the Whig party, said:

I deny that the election of 1840 was carried by the people. It was carried by duplicity. It was carried by the unfortunate state of the times, which was not the result of Democratic rule, and by false charges against the American Democracy; and, thank God, in my own State, in the Bullion State, they did not succeed in depreciating our majority.--N. Y. Herald, June 13, 1848.

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