Which 1792 law established the United States dollar as a currency divided into 100 cents?

The Coinage Act of 1792 established the United States dollar as a currency divided into 100 cents.

Passed by the United States Congress on 2 April 1792, the law created the United States Mint and set up a national system of coinage. It defined the dollar in relation to specified amounts of silver and gold and authorized coins including the half cent, cent, half dime, dime, quarter dollar, half dollar, and dollar.

The decimal structure was important because it made the dollar easier to calculate than older systems based on irregular subdivisions. The law also established a decimal relationship in which 100 cents made one dollar, a system that remains familiar today.

The act did not create the Federal Reserve or modern paper-money arrangements. The Federal Reserve System came much later, in 1913. The Coinage Act was primarily a foundational law for national minting and metallic coin standards.