Money!

When was paper money first printed in the U.S.? The U.S. Department of the Treasury first issued paper U.S. currency in 1862 to make up for the shortage of coins and to finance the Civil War. There was a shortage of coins because people had started hoarding them; the uncertainty caused by the war had made the value of items fluctuate drastically. Because coins were made of gold and silver their value didn't change much, so people wanted to hang onto them rather than buy items that might lose their value.

The first dollar bills

What denominations of bills were first printed? The first paper notes were printed in denominations of 1 cent, 5 cents, 25 cents, and 50 cents. How long does money last? That depends on the denomination of the note. A $1 bill lasts 18 months; $5 bill, two years; $10 bill, three years; $20 bill, four years; and $50 and $100 bills, nine years. Bills that get worn out from everyday use are taken out of circulation and replaced.

How much does a million weigh?

That would depend on the denomination of the bills you use. Since there are 490 notes in a pound, if you used $1 bills it would weigh 2,040.8 pounds, but if you used $100 bills it would weigh only 20.4 pounds. How much money is printed each day? The Bureau of Engraving and Printing produces 38 million notes a day with a face value of approximately $541 million. That doesn't mean there is $541 million more money circulating today than there was yesterday, though, because 95% of the notes printed each year are used to replace notes already in circulation.

How many pennies were made in 1998?

There were more than 10 billion pennies made in 1998. The actual number of coins produced, by denomination, was as follows: pennies, 10,257,400,000; nickels, 1,323,672,000; dimes, 2,335,300,000; quarters, 1,867,400,000; half-dollars, 30,710,000.

What percentage of bills are $1 notes?

Almost half, 48 percent, of the notes printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing are $1 notes.

What are the dimensions of U.S. paper currency?

Our present currency measures 2.61 inches wide by 6.14 inches long, and the thickness is 0.0043 inches. Larger sized notes in circulation before 1929 measured 3.125 inches by 7.4218 inches.

What is money made of?

Coins are usually made of copper and another element, such as zinc or nickel. Currency paper is composed of 25 percent linen and 75 percent cotton. Red and blue synthetic fibers of various lengths are distributed evenly throughout the paper. Before World War I these fibers were made of silk.

Has a woman's portrait ever appeared on U.S. paper money?

Martha Washington is the only woman whose portrait has appeared on a U.S. currency note. It appeared on the face of the $1 Silver Certificate of 1886 and 1891, and the back of the $1 Silver Certificate of 1896. What type of car appears on the back of the $10 bill? Contrary to popular belief, the automobile pictured on the back of the $10 note is not a Model T Ford. There are four cars included in this vignette. These cars are of no specific make or model, but each is a composite of the cars available in December 1927, when the engraving for the plates was completed.

What time is it on the Independence Hall clock on the back of the $100 bill?

Though it would be difficult to tell without a magnifying glass, the hands of the clock in the steeple of Independence Hall are set at approximately 4:10.

Has an African American ever appeared on U.S. currency?

Paper money bears the signatures of four African American men who served as Registers of the Treasury (Blanche K. Bruce, Judson W. Lyons, William T. Vernon, and James C. NaNapier) and one African American woman who served as Treasurer of the United States (Azie Taylor Morton). No portraits of African Americans have appeared on paper money, but commemorative coins were issued in the 1940s bearing the images of George Washington Carver and Booker T. Washington, followed more recently by the release of a Jackie Robinson coin.

Colonial Notes 1690

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.

Continental Currency 1775

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."

The Nation's First Bank 1781

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.

The Dollar 1785

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.

U.S. Mint 1792

The Federal Monetary System was established with the creation of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. The first American coins were struck in 1793.

Second U.S. Bank 1816

The Second Bank of the U.S. was granted a 20-year charter.

State Bank Notes 1836

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.

Civil War 1861

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.

Greenbacks 1862

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.

The Design 1863

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.

Gold Certificates 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.

National Bank Notes 1866

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.

Bureau of Engraving and Printing 1877

The Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing started printing all U.S. currency.

Silver Certificates 1878

The Department of the Treasury was authorized to issue Silver Certificates in exchange for silver dollars. The last issue was in the Series 1957.

Federal Reserve Act 1913

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.

Standardized Design 1929

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.

In God We Trust 1957

Paper currency was first issued with the inscription "In God We Trust" in 1957. The inscription appears on all currency Series 1963 and later.

Security Thread and Microprinting 1990

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.

Currency Redesign 1994

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.

Fifty State Quarters Program Act 1994

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.

Redesign of $5 and $10 bills 2000

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.