How did the Dollar gain value in the 1800's?

1913 is when the Federal Reserve, managed by private bankers, was brought into being.

The $22.13 you are referencing is the silver melt value of a 90% silver dollar. If you can get some, please do... it is a great way to acquire fractional silver, along with silver dimes, quarters and halves.

The dollar did some fluctuation... it lost value due to civil war debt, and it gained value when Andrew Jackson kicked the central bank to the curb and the US had debt-free money for the next 50 years... which was also the time of greatest expansion of our economy.

The name for that lost value of the dollar as currency... inflation. It is swiftly getting to the point where we are staring at hyperinflation because our true national debt has been calculated at being close to $70 trillion, and that is being expanded every month by the Federal Reserve's printing and buying $45 billion a month in US treasuries (called quantitative easing) and another $40 billion a month buying up "toxic assets" (derivatives) from the big banks. Add to that whatever they're lending to the European banks. It's gonna be a cluster when it finally hits the wall.