Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
History of the birth of the 227-year-old US dollar
BEFORE 1792, most Americans had money troubles. Goods and services could be exchanged for gold or silver. Some would use British or Spanish coins. Tobacco leaves, shells and land were other options.
Colonies issued their own paper currency, but it wasn’t reliable to use when trading and travelling. On April 2, 1792, Congress established a global symbol: the dollar.
Frank Noll, a historical consultant for the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing, said: “The Coinage Act established the dollar as a unit of currency for the United States.”
The first official American currency was a silver dollar. People had to bring their own silver to the Mint to be coined. “The coins had to have a portrayal of ‘Liberty’ on them. And so you have these busts or portraits of female Liberty on all coins.”
However, it was rare for people to find these silver coins – not many were produced. So local banks made their own currency that could be exchanged for gold or silver. In 1861, Congress needed to find a practical way – a currency that didn’t rely on gold or silver – to pay for the Civil War and its soldiers. So the US was introduced to the first government-regulated paper bills. Many think the $1 was the first paper bill, but the first bills were the $5, $10 and $20, also called “greenbacks”.
The colour had to prevent people from counterfeiting, or printing fake money. “Chemists were looking at creating an ink that could not be erased,” Noll said. “And so one chemist in the 1840s came up with this ink. It happened to be green.”
In 1862, the $1 bill was created. “The current $1 bill, the back looks the way it does because of Franklin Roosevelt. He is the only president who ever got involved in currency design,” Noll said. Throughout history, paper bills have been redesigned. The last redesign was the $100 bill in 2013. A 3-D ribbon was added. The next expected change is the $10 bill in 2026. – Washington Post