1798
This year, Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which permitted the arrest and deportation of "dangerous" aliens. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wrote the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, which made this issue one of states rights. Napoleon captures Rome, invades Switzerland, and wins the Battle of the Pyramids, opening Cairo to his armies. Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner is published in Lyrical Ballads. Whitney invents a milling machine to make standardized and interchangeable musket parts, which began mass production. Jenner published the results of his small pox inoculations and his procedure was soon used world-wide. Yellow fever killed 2086 people in New York this year and Thomas Malthus published Essays on the Principle of Population.
Mint records show 979,700 cents struck and delivered this year. No half cents were struck and none are known with this date. The first cents from this year (perhaps the first 150,000) were dated 1797. By March, cents dated 1798 were being struck. Cents bearing this date were then struck through 1799 and perhaps even into1800. A total mintage number is unknown.
A minor change was made to Liberty's hair this year, with the addition of an extra curl on her shoulder. The earlier hair style is commonly called "Head of 1797" or simply "type 1." When Liberty sports her extra curl, it is called "Head of 1798" or "type 2."
Forty-seven different varieties are known for 1798 large cents (S-144 through S-187, NC-1 and NC-2). The nicest coins in the National Numismatic Collection include S 145, S 156, S 167 (2), and S 175 (2). Two of these cents were struck slightly off center, S 145 and S 157.
LARGE CENTS