I don’t think the dollar denoted a particular weight. I think one of the problems with the dollar was government fixing the dollar to an exchange rate to metal. I just commented more on that point in this thread:
I think had the government simply defined the dollar as a specific weight and finesse and let the market sort out value, which ironically is what happened anyway when people converted dollars, the dollar would have been much better off.
I would recommend you search old newspaper archives for articles from that March 1933 era. I think you will get a much better idea. I’ll give you an example:
“Push Sales” is the article.
Even before FDR declared a bank holiday several states already had bank holidays in effect. FDR just nationalized it. I don’t think the sheep of the 1930’s were any more economically astute with regards to money than the sheep of 2012. I do think people viewed government with more credibility in the 1930’s. If we look at all the trends of expanding government well… government does reflect the will of a people. My simple response is that I believe the effect of federal intervention helped restore confidence in banking because people believed government could solve the problem.