Source:
The U.S. Treasury Department, Bureau of Engraving and
Printing, Web: www.bep.treas.gov
.
- 1690: Colonial
Notes
- In the early days of this nation,
before and just after the American Revolution, Americans
used English, Spanish, and French currencies. The
Massachusetts Bay Colony issued the first paper money in the
colonies that would later form the United States.
- 1775: Continental
Currency
- American colonists issued paper
currency for the Continental Congress to finance the
Revolutionary War. The notes were backed by the
“anticipation” of tax revenues. Without solid backing
and because they were easily counterfeited, the notes
quickly became devalued, giving rise to the phrase “not
worth a Continental.”
- 1781: The
Nation's First Bank
- The Continental Congress chartered the
Bank of North America in Philadelphia as the nation's first
“real” bank to give further financial support to the
Revolutionary War.
- 1785: The Dollar
- The Continental Congress adopted the
dollar as the unit for national currency. At that time,
private bank-note companies printed a variety of notes.
- 1789:
- After adoption of the Constitution in
1789, Congress chartered the First Bank of the United States
and authorized it to issue paper bank notes to eliminate
confusion and simplify trade. The bank served as the U.S.
Treasury's fiscal agent, thus performing the first central
bank functions.
- 1792: U.S. Mint
- The Federal Monetary System was
established with the creation of the U.S. Mint in
Philadelphia. The first American coins were struck in 1793.
- 1816: Second U.S.
Bank
- The Second Bank of the U.S. was granted
a 20-year charter.
- 1836: State Bank
Notes
- With minimum regulation, a
proliferation of 1,600 state-chartered, private banks issued
paper money. State bank notes, with over 30,000 varieties of
color and design, were easily counterfeited, which combined
with bank failures to cause confusion and circulation
problems.
- 1861: Civil War
- On the brink of bankruptcy and pressed
to finance the Civil War, Congress authorized the United
States Treasury to issue paper money for the first time in
the form of non-interest bearing Treasury Notes called
Demand Notes.
- 1862: Greenbacks
- Demand Notes were replaced by United
States Notes. Commonly called “greenbacks” because of
the green tint introduced to discourage photographic
counterfeiting, they were last issued in 1971. The Secretary
of the Treasury was empowered by Congress to have notes
engraved and printed by private bank note companies. The
notes were signed and affixed with seals by six Treasury
Department employees.
- 1863: the Design
- The design of U.S. currency
incorporated a Treasury seal, the fine-line engraving
necessary for the difficult-to-counterfeit intaglio
printing, intricate geometric lathe work patterns, and
distinctive cotton and linen paper with embedded red and
blue fibers.
- 1865:
- Gold Certificates were
issued by the Department of the Treasury against gold coin
and bullion deposits and were circulated until 1933.
- Secret Service The
Department of the Treasury established the United States
Secret Service to control counterfeiting. At that time,
one-third of all circulating currency was estimated to be
counterfeit.
- 1866: National
Bank Notes
- National Bank Notes, backed by U.S.
government securities, became predominant. By this time, 75
percent of bank deposits were held by nationally chartered
banks. As State Bank Notes were replaced, the value of
currency stabilized for a time.
- 1877: Bureau of
Engraving and Printing
- The Department of the Treasury's Bureau
of Engraving and Printing started printing all U.S.
currency.
- 1878: Silver
Certificates
- The Department of the Treasury was
authorized to issue Silver Certificates in exchange for
silver dollars. The last issue was in the Series 1957.
- 1913: Federal
Reserve Act
- After the 1893 and 1907 financial
panics, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was passed. It
created the Federal Reserve System as the nation's central
bank to regulate the flow of money and credit for economic
stability and growth. The System was authorized to issue
Federal Reserve Notes. Now the only U.S. currency produced,
Federal Reserve Notes represent 99 percent of all currency
in circulation.
- 1929:
Standardized Design
- Currency was reduced in size by 25
percent, and a consistent design was introduced with uniform
portraits on the front and emblems and monuments on the
back.
- 1957: In God We
Trust
- Paper currency was first issued with
the inscription “In God We Trust” in 1957. The
inscription appears on all currency Series 1963 and later.
- 1990: Security
Thread and Microprinting
- A security thread and microprinting
were introduced to deter counterfeiting by advanced copiers
and printers. The features first appeared in Series 1990
$100, $50 and the $20 notes. By Series 1993, the features
appeared in all denominations except $1 notes.
- 1994: Currency
Redesign
- The Secretary of the Treasury announced
that U.S. currency would be redesigned to incorporate a new
series of counterfeit deterrents. The newly designed $100
was introduced in 1996, the $50 in 1997, and the $20 in
1998. The new $50 was the first to incorporate a low-vision
feature, a large dark numeral on a light background on the
lower right corner of the back, to help people with low
vision identify the denomination.
- 1998: 50 State
Quarters Program Act
- The program is scheduled to run from
1999 until 2008, with five new quarters released every year
over ten years. The 50 new quarters will feature a design
that honors each state's unique history and tradition. The
quarters are being released in the order that the states
joined the union.
- 2000: Redesign of
$5 and $10 bills
- The U.S. Treasury introduced redesigned
$5 and $10 bills to make counterfeiting more difficult. The
new notes feature oversized pictures of Abraham Lincoln and
Alexander Hamilton that are slightly off-center. Other
anti-counterfeiting measures include watermarks that can be
seen under a light, security threads that glow when exposed
to ultraviolet light and tiny printing that’s visible with
the help of a magnifying glass. The $100, $50 and the $20
bill underwent similar makeovers in 1996, 1997 and 1998,
respectively.
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