Monetary Policy in the Confederacy

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Monetary Policy in the Confederacy RF Fall2005 v10 revisedpg40.ps - 10/17/2005 4:25 PM ECONOMICHISTORY MonetaryOpportunity PolicyCost in the Confederacy BY ERIC NIELSEN ars may be won or lost on repercussions long after the war Unable to finance the battlefield, but gener- ended. The conduct of monetary poli- Walship, bravery, and cy in the Civil War is not simply of the war effort organization are of little use to an interest to historians. The era also pro- army if its government can’t pay its vides important lessons for monetary through taxation, expenses. The ability of a government policymakers and researchers. The to finance a war is often critical to the experience of the Confederacy in par- the South turned to war’s outcome, even if the effects of ticular illustrates the consequences of financing seem far removed from mili- poor financial infrastructure and gov- the printing press, tary action. In turn, a government’s ernance. It also shows the power of a voracious appetite for resources to generally monetarist explanation of and the result was fund its military and the peculiar inflation. strain on production that characterize At the start of the war, the hyperinflation times of war further complicate good Confederacy faced many daunting monetary and fiscal policymaking. barriers to the conduct of sound mon- These tensions clearly played a signifi- etary policy. Perhaps most important cant role in the conduct of the of these was the decentralized power American Civil War. structure of the Confederate govern- The need for wartime funding in the ment. The Southern states had North and South led to policies that seceded under the banner of states’ illustrate basic tenets of monetary rights and were reluctant to obey the economics while precipitating a dra- economic policies of President matic restructuring of the national Jefferson Davis or Secretary of the financial system, changes that had Treasury Christopher Memminger. The South also lacked a well-devel- oped financial infrastructure since in the antebellum period most large banking operations were in the North, where most of the gold was held. Each state could charter banks, and there was considerable heterogeneity in banking and regulatory practices across the Southern states. Since each bank could issue its own currency notes, the government had limited ability to conduct coordinated mone- tary policy. Further, the absence of a central bank to act as a lender of last resort made the banking industry prone to liquidity crises. The only source for centralized economic policy After the fall of Atlanta in July 1864, was the Confederate Treasury under the Confederacy’s Memminger, but this office was sub- prospects looked dim. ject to the vagaries of the executive Southerners started and legislative branches of govern- spending their ment, meaning that policy could be Confederate notes influenced for political, not economic, rapidly, increasing reasons as argued by economist money velocity — and with it, prices. Eugene Lerner. PHOTOGRAPHY: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, PRINTS & PHOTOGRAPHS DIVISION [LC-B8171-2715] PRINTS & PHOTOGRAPHS OF CONGRESS, LIBRARY PHOTOGRAPHY: 40 Region Focus • Fall 2005 RF Fall2005 v10 revisedpg41.ps - 10/17/2005 4:25 PM The structure of the Southern econ- As more and more tax bills were Confederacy. So rapid was the expan- omy also impeded effective monetary passed, the tax code became increas- sion of the Confederate money supply policy. Heavily dependent on agricul- ingly complicated, further hindering that at one point during the war, the ture, the South had little industrial collection efforts. Indeed, the only orders for new currency exceeded the capital and few liquid assets. The lack taxes that could reliably raise revenue printing capacity of the Treasury’s of liquidity made tax collection in the were taxes-in-kind, which meant that presses. To fill the order, the Treasury rural South very hard, while the lack of goods were confiscated directly. But began to accept counterfeit currency economic diversification made the Lerner argues that this practice ulti- as valid to further expand the supply of economy prone to adverse shocks in mately led to a decline in market money. its few export goods such as cotton. activity, as farmers began to produce The enormous increase in the quan- Finally, the South had a relatively only enough to support themselves, tity of currency precipitated an era of uneducated population which led to fearful that their surplus crop would hyperinflation in the Confederacy as constant worker shortages in the be captured by taxation agents. more dollars chased fewer goods. The Treasury’s office in Richmond and in Jefferson Davis and Secretary price level in the South rose by rough- other posts requiring a high degree of Memminger were also stymied in their ly 10 percent per month during the literacy. attempts to raise revenue through bor- conflict and by the end of the war, the The combination of these structural rowing. Though their initial bond price level had increased in the problems coupled with shortsighted offering of 50 million Confederate Confederacy by a factor of 92, though policymaking by the Confederate dollars sold well, subsequent issues did imports tended to inflate more quick- Congress meant that taxation and bor- not sell well except in some foreign ly and exports more slowly. At the rowing ultimately failed to raise markets. One problem with these later same time, the blockade, military sufficient funds to conduct the war. So bond issues was timing — the war destruction, and the loss of workers to the Confederacy had to finance itself started in April just as farmers were the war caused real wages and output through the excessive printing of planting and strapped for cash. Also, to fall dramatically, with per-capita money, which led to hyperinflation. the 6 percent to 8 percent coupons consumption falling by 50 percent in Increased taxation, the most direct paid by most of these bonds were real terms. Indeed, if banks had not and obvious way of raising additional more than eaten up by high inflation. sharply increased their reserve ratios revenue, failed to finance a significant Throughout the entire course of the for fear of bank runs, the inflation cre- portion of the war for the war, the South managed to secure only ated by excess money in the South Confederacy. Only 8 percent to 11 per- one overseas loan, from Erlanger & would likely have been even more cent of all wartime revenue in the Co. in Paris. The loan had a face value severe. South came from taxation, despite the of $15 million and was issued at a time Hyperinflation had a number of introduction of many new taxes on when things looked bright for the negative effects on the Southern income, professional licenses, and South, on the eve of the battles of wartime economy. As currency property. In addition, a new excise tax Vicksburg and Gettysburg. The became useless as a store of value, the on cotton, the most significant export Confederacy’s defeats at these two rate at which people spent their cash crop in the South, also failed due to pivotal battles caused the value of the reserves — the velocity of money — the surprisingly effective naval block- loan to plummet so that after commis- increased, driving prices still higher. ade orchestrated by the Union. sion, Erlanger likely netted the South In many areas of the South, Prior to the Civil War, the Southern only $3 million in real terms, not Confederate dollars became worth- states enjoyed one of the lightest tax enough to make much of a difference less unless accompanied by some burdens in the world; when the war to the war effort. valuable underlying commodity such started there was thus no infrastruc- With no other avenue open, as cotton or leather, impeding the ture in place to efficiently levy and Secretary Memminger reluctantly smooth economic exchanges on collect taxes except for duties on turned to the printing press to meet which healthy economies depend. In imports and exports at major ports. the Confederacy’s financing needs. border areas, the Union greenback Many state governments were very Memminger was aware that such a currency became the preferred medi- hostile to collection efforts by the move would likely cause a rise in the um for exchange due to its superior Confederate government and actively price level and warned the government stability. Faced with the danger of aided their citizens in tax evasion as repeatedly about this danger, to no imminent invasion and the burden of documented by Lerner in his classic avail. The Treasury bills issued during supporting and hosting the military, study of Confederate economic policy. the war had a peculiar feature: They the border areas tended to be partic- For instance, only South Carolina paid were redeemable for gold two years ularly harmed by the war. for the Tax of 1861 by collecting duties after the war ended, which meant that The Confederate government from its citizens; the other states sim- the value of the bills was partially tied passed the Currency Reform Act of ply took out loans to pay their share. to expectations of victory for the 1864 in an effort to stem the rampant Fall 2005 • Region Focus 41 RF Fall2005 v10 revisedpg42.ps - 10/18/2005 9:54 AM inflation ravaging the South. The Act tising effort presaged the modern era underlying commodity, was used as effectively removed one-third of all in which bond issues to the general legal tender. A year later the Union currency in the South from circula- public were used to help pay for wars. government passed the National tion by mandating that all large During the war, the Union also man- Banking Act of 1863 which created a denomination bills be converted to aged to expand its tax base and revamp system of nationally chartered and reg- 4 percent Treasury bonds before its collection system.
Recommended publications
  • Civil War 150 Years Ago June 1864
    Civil War 150 Years Ago June 1864 Grant pounds away in the East while Sherman maneuvers through Georgia. June 1 Major Union attack at Cold Harbor, Virginia June 3 All-out Union assault at Cold Harbor, Virginia. On May 31, Sheridan’s cavalry seized the vital crossroads of Old Cold Harbor. Early on June 1, relying heavily on their new repeating carbines and shallow entrenchments, Sheridan’s troopers threw back an attack by Confederate infantry. Confederate reinforcements arrived from Richmond and from the Totopotomoy Creek lines. Late on June 1, the Union Sixth and Eighteenth Corps reached Cold Harbor and assaulted the Confederate works with minimal success. By June 2, both armies were on the field, forming on a seven-mile front that extended from Bethesda Church to the Chickahominy River. At dawn June 3, the Second and Eighteenth Corps, followed later by the Ninth Corps, assaulted along the Bethesda Church-Cold Harbor line and were slaughtered at all points. Grant commented in his memoirs that this was the only attack he wished he had never ordered. The armies confronted each other on these lines until the night of June 12, when Grant again advanced by his left flank, marching to James River. On June 14, the Second Corps was ferried across the river at Wilcox’s Landing by transports. On June 15, the rest of the army began crossing on a 2,200-foot long pontoon bridge at Weyanoke. Abandoning the well-defended approaches to Richmond, Grant sought to shift his army quickly south of the river to threaten Petersburg.
    [Show full text]
  • Carl Sandburg, the Confederate States of America, and the UNC Herbarium by Herbarium Natural Science Technician Carol Ann Mccormick
    Carl Sandburg, The Confederate States of America, and the UNC Herbarium by Herbarium Natural Science Technician Carol Ann McCormick This summer Rickie White, Regional Vegetation Ecologist with NatureServe, spent many weeks in the University of North Carolina Herbarium identifying and mounting plant specimens that he and fellow botanists Alan Weakley, Tom Ferguson, and Anne Ulinski had collected at the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in Flat Rock, North Carolina. In addition to managing the antebellum home, the National Park Service preserves the 264-acres of surrounding pastures, rock outcrops, forests, and woodlands. NatureServe is working collaboratively with park service staff and volunteers to update the herbarium at the park and to attempt to collect and to voucher at least 90% of the vascular plants located in the park. As Rickie glued and sewed herbarium sheets, I asked him to tell me about the Sandburg Home. I learned that Carl Sandburg, poet and essayist whom I’d always associated with the Midwest, moved to Flat Rock, North Carolina in 1945. Lilian Sandburg used the pastures around the antebellum house to raise champion goats, while Carl continued to write. The house, Rickie had learned, was built ca. 1838 by Christopher Gustavus Memminger, the first Secretary of the Treasury of the Confederate States of America. Memminger, a banker from Charleston, South Carolina, built this house in the mountains of North Carolina to escape the summer heat of the coast. The name “Memminger” rang a bell in my mind, and being neither a Sandburg scholar nor deeply informed about Confederate fiduciary matters, I was confident it was a botanical bell.
    [Show full text]
  • Did Constitutions Matter During the American Civil War?
    DID CONSTITUTIONS MATTER DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR? SUKRIT SABHLOK Monash University, Australia Abstract: The question of why the Confederate States of America lost the American Civil War has been extensively discussed, with scholars such as Frank Owsley and David Donald arguing that constitutional text and philosophy – and a preference for local over central government action – constrained the CSA’s options and therefore prospects for victory. While Owsley and Donald’s portrayal of a government hindered by constitutional fidelity has been countered by Richard Beringer, Herman Hattaway and William Still, who have pointed out that the Confederate government grew in size and scope during the war in spite of apparent legal restrictions, there has been limited examination of the factual basis underlying the thesis that constitutions functioned as a restraint. This paper addresses the US Constitution and the Confederate Constitutions (provisional and final) with special attention to how certain provisions and interpretive actions may have constrained the central government in the realm of economic policy. I find that both documents were not clearly relevant due to being inconsistently obeyed. The Confederacy disregarded provisions relating to fiscal, monetary and trade policy, even though it is likely that adhering to its Constitution in these areas could have strengthened its position and allowed it to supply its armies more adequately. It is likely that non-constitutional discretionary factors primarily account for the Confederacy’s defeat. I INTRODUCTION Now, our Constitution is new; it has gone through no perils to test and try its strength and capacity for the work it was intended to perform.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Gorgas, Josiah. the Journals of Josiah Gorgas, 1857-1878. Edited
    Gorgas, Josiah. The Journals of Josiah Gorgas, 1857-1878. Edited by Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1995. Joining the Confederacy, 37 Review of first year of war, 41-45 Nathaniel Lyon, 42 Robert S. Garnett, 41-42 Albert Sidney Johnston, 43 Monitor and Merrimac, 43-45 Seven Pines, 45 Jefferson Davis, Beauregard, Corinth, 46 England, France, diplomatic recognition, 46 Loss of New Orleans, 47 Seven Days campaign, 47-48 Railroads poorly run, 49 Jefferson Davis confirmed in Episcopal church, 49-50 Morality of generals, Pope, Jackson, Bragg, Buell, 50 Conscription, 51 Lincoln, Pope, McClellan, 51 Antietam campaign, 52- Bragg's Kentucky campaign, 52-55 Emancipation Proclamation, 53 Explosion at laboratory on Brown's Island, women killed, 57 Jefferson Davis and defense of Mississippi, 57-58 Food prices, blockade running, fortunes made, 58 Fasting, humiliation, and prayer, 58 Richmond bread riot, 59-60 Charleston, Fort Sumter, Union bombardment, 61-62 Conscription, 61 Sulfolk campaign, 62-63 Chancellorsville campaign, 63-67 Wounding of Stonewall Jackson, death, 65-66 Union, draft, Lincoln, divisions at the North, length of war, 66 Vicksburg campaign, 67-75 Gettysburg campaign, 70-75 Falls of New Orleans and Mansfield Lovell, 70 Winchester, Milroy, 71 Jefferson Davis seriously ill, 72 Alexander H. Stephens peace mission, 72 Jefferson Davis, Joseph Johnston, and Vicksburg, 74 Condition of Confederacy after Gettysburg and Vicksburg, 75 William L. Yancey death, 76 Confederate sympathizers wish to go aboard, 78-79 Demoralization
    [Show full text]
  • Black Lives and Whitened Stories: from the Lowcountry to the Mountains?
    National Park Service <Running Headers> <E> U.S. Department of the Interior Historic Resource Study of Black History at Rock Hill/Connemara Carl Sandburg Home NHS BLACK LIVES AND WHITENED STORIES: From the Lowcountry to the Mountains David E. Whisnant and Anne Mitchell Whisnant CULTURAL RESOURCES SOUTHEAST REGION BLACK LIVES AND WHITENED STORIES: From the Lowcountry to the Mountains By David E. Whisnant, Ph.D. Anne Mitchell Whisnant, Ph.D. Primary Source History Services A HISTORIC RESOURCE STUDY OF BLACK HISTORY AT ROCK HILL/CONNEMARA Presented to Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site In Partnership with the Organization of American Historians/National Park Service Southeast Region History Program NATIONAL PARK SERVICE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NOVEMBER 2020 Cultural Resources Division Southeast Regional Office National Park Service 100 Alabama Street, SW Atlanta, Georgia 30303 (404) 507-5847 Black Lives and Whitened Stories: From the Lowcountry to the Mountains By David E. Whisnant and Anne Mitchell Whisnant http://www.nps.gov Cover Photos: Smyth Servants: Black female servant rolling children in stroller. Photograph, Carl Sandburg National Historic Site archives, (1910; Sadie “Boots” & Rosana [?]). Smyth Servants: Swedish House HSR, p. 22; (Collection of William McKay, great-grandson of the Smyths). Also Barn Complex HSR Fig. 11, p. 7: Figure 11. The Smyths’ servants in front of the kitchen building, ca. 1910. (Collection of Smyth great-grandson William McKay). Sylvene: From HSR, Main House, pp. 10, 37: Collection of Juliane Heggoy. Man and 3: Swedish House HSR, p. 22; (Collection of William McKay, great-grandson of the Smyths). Also Barn Complex HSR Fig.
    [Show full text]
  • Distribution Agreement in Presenting This Thesis As A
    Distribution Agreement In presenting this thesis as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for a degree from Emory University, I hereby grant to Emory University and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive, make accessible, and display my thesis or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter know, including display on the World Wide Web. I understand that I may select some access restrictions as part of the only submission of this thesis. I retain all ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis. Benjamin D. Leiner April 11, 2014 Rebelling Against the King: Opposition to the Confederate Cotton Embargo in 1861 by Benjamin D. Leiner Dr. James L. Roark Adviser Department of History Dr. James L. Roark Adviser Dr. Patrick Allitt Committee Member Dr. Thomas D. Lancaster Committee Member 2014 Rebelling Against the King: Opposition to the Confederate Cotton Embargo in 1861 By Benjamin D. Leiner Dr. James L. Roark Adviser An abstract of a thesis submitted to the Faculty of Emory College of Arts and Sciences of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors Department of History 2014 Abstract Rebelling Against the King: Opposition to the Confederate Cotton Embargo in 1861 By Benjamin D. Leiner In the early days of the Confederacy, Southern politicians, planters, and everyday citizens were discussing how the seceded states would successfully break away from the North and cement their independence.
    [Show full text]
  • Civil War Collection, 1860-1977
    Civil War collection, 1860-1977 Emory University Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library Atlanta, GA 30322 404-727-6887 rose.library@emory.edu Descriptive Summary Title: Civil War collection, 1860-1977 Call Number: Manuscript Collection No. 20 Extent: 10 linear feet (23 boxes), 7 bound volumes (BV), 7 oversized papers boxes and 29 oversized papers folders (OP), 4 microfilm reels (MF), and 1 framed item (FR) Abstract: The Civil War collection is an artificial collection consisting of both contemporary and non-contemporary materials relating to the American Civil War (1861-1865). Language: Materials entirely in English. Administrative Information Restrictions on Access Unrestricted access. Terms Governing Use and Reproduction All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction. Additional Physical Form The Robert F. Davis diaries in Subseries 1.1 are also available on microfilm. Source Various sources. Citation [after identification of item(s)], Civil War collection, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University. Processing Reprocessed by Susan Potts McDonald, 2013. This collection contains material that was originally part of Miscellaneous Collections A-D, F, and H-I. In 2017, these collections were discontinued and the contents dispersed amongst other collections by subject or provenance to improve accessibility. Emory Libraries provides copies of its finding aids for use only in research and private study. Copies supplied may not be copied for others or otherwise distributed without prior consent of the holding repository. Civil War collection Manuscript Collection No. 20 Sheet music in this collection was formerly part of an unaccessioned collection of sheet music that was transferred to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2019.
    [Show full text]
  • Gunboats, Reputation, and Sovereign Repayment: Lessons from the Southern Confederacy
    NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES GUNBOATS, REPUTATION, AND SOVEREIGN REPAYMENT: LESSONS FROM THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY Marc D. Weidenmier Working Paper 10960 http://www.nber.org/papers/w10960 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 December 2004 This paper is forthcoming in the Journal of International Economics. The author thanks Howard Bodenhorn, Richard Burdekin, Jonathan Eaton, William English, Niall Ferguson, Greg Hess, Hugh Rockoff, Tom Willett, seminar participants at the March 2003 Sovereign Debt Conference held at the Social Science History Institute at Stanford, and an anonymous referee for comments. All remaining errors are the authors. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. © 2004 by Marc D. Weidenmier. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Gunboats, Reputation, and Sovereign Repayment: Lessons from the Southern Confederacy Marc D. Weidenmier NBER Working Paper No. 10960 December 2004 JEL No. F34, N2 ABSTRACT Many states that formed the Southern Confederacy defaulted on sovereign debt sold in international capital markets during the 1840s. The Confederacy also elected President Jefferson Davis, who openly advocated the repudiation of U.S. states' debts while a member of Congress. Despite its poor credit record, the Confederate government managed to float cotton bonds in England that constituted under two percent of its expenditures. The bonds were largely issued to settle overdue debts with gun contractors who had cut off trade credit.
    [Show full text]
  • Article Pictures Frozen in Time: Determining Whether Or Not Confederate Currency Vignettes Functioned As Proslavery Propaganda
    Article Pictures Frozen in Time: Determining Whether or Not Confederate Currency Vignettes Functioned as Proslavery Propaganda Christian M. Lengyel Bowling Green State University Abstract Recently scholars have begun to reassess the importance of monetary imagery as a reflection of subjects integral to past societies. This study attempts to determine if the Confederate States of America utilized their vignettes to promote the institution of slavery. Using Grover Criswell’s seventy defined varieties of Confederate notes issued between 1861 and 1864 as a sample, I engage scholars Richard Doty, Michael O’Malley, and Jules d’Hemecourt who argue that these bills functioned as a significant form of proslavery propaganda. With statistical examination of this material I suggest that such allegations are false and possess little physical evidence. My examination of this material challenges these allegations by studying the frequency that such scenes were employed and finding that they represent a very miniscule portion of the vignettes utilized by the Confederacy. My analysis shows that these notes generally promoted the “Southern cause,” but did not promote slavery to any significant degree. ______________________________________________________________________________ Paper dollars are one of the most widely used and accepted forms of transaction in modern-day American society. While cheques and credit cards are both equally popular instruments of exchange, cold hard cash is still the preferred means of commerce for many businesses throughout the country. Note collecting has also started to emerge as a burgeoning field of interest the world over as old bills’ beauty and rarity gradually gain more appreciation. But this was not always the case. As recent as the early twentieth century, paper money carried with it predominantly negative connotations of instability and untrustworthiness.
    [Show full text]
  • California and the Gold Standard During the American Civil
    California and the Gold Standard During the 1 American Civil War Ronald A. Shearer Department of Economics The University of British Columbia October, 2000 In late December 1861 the New York banks stopped redeeming their monetary liabilities in gold or silver legal tender coins. The New York suspension was followed by banks throughout the east and mid- west and by the government of the United States. Combined with a subsequent act that declared United States notes (“greenbacks”) to be legal tender, the suspension effectively put most of the Union on an inconvertible paper standard. The glaring exceptions were on the Pacific coast where support for the gold standard was strong and where some states remained on the gold throughout the period of inconvertibility. The western recalcitrance with respect to the greenback standard is an interesting and puzzling episode in the American monetary history. Several questions suggest themselves. What does it mean to say that some far western states remained on the gold standard? Given the presumed supremacy of the federal government in monetary affairs, how were these states able to remain on gold while the rest of the country was on an inconvertible paper standard? What were the consequences of remaining on gold? The purpose of this paper is to explore these issues. The scope of this paper is limited in two ways. First, although the period of inconvertibility in the east extended from December 30, 1961 to January 1, 1879, I focus on the Civil War period and its immediate aftermath. This was the period during which the western commitment to gold was aggressively asserted and was placed under severe political stress.
    [Show full text]
  • Currency NOTES
    BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING Currency NOTES www.moneyfactory.gov TABLE OF CONTENTS U.S. PAPER CURRENCY – AN OVERVIEW . 1 THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM ............................. 1 CURRENCY TODAY ..................................... 2 Federal Reserve Notes. 2 PAST CURRENCY ISSUES ................................. 2 Valuation of Currency. 2 Demand Notes . 2 United States Notes. 3 Fractional Currency. 3 Gold Certificates . 4 The Gold Standard. 4 Silver Certificates. 4 Treasury (or Coin) Notes. 5 National Bank Notes. 5 Federal Reserve Bank Notes. 6 PAPER MONEY NOT ISSUED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT .............. 7 Celebrity Notes . 7 $3 Notes. 7 Confederate Currency . 7 Platinum Certificates. 7 INTERESTING AND FUN FACTS ABOUT U.S. PAPER CURRENCY . 9 SELECTION OF PORTRAITS APPEARING ON U.S. CURRENCY ............. 9 PORTRAITS AND VIGNETTES USED ON U.S. CURRENCY SINCE 1928 ..................................... 10 PORTRAITS AND VIGNETTES OF WOMEN ON U.S. CURRENCY ............ 10 AFRICAN-AMERICAN SIGNATURES ON U.S. CURRENCY ................ 10 VIGNETTE ON THE BACK OF THE $2 NOTE ....................... 11 VIGNETTE ON THE BACK OF THE $5 NOTE ....................... 11 VIGNETTE ON THE BACK OF THE $10 NOTE ...................... 12 VIGNETTE ON THE BACK OF THE $100 NOTE ..................... 12 ORIGIN OF THE $ SIGN .................................. 12 THE “GREEN” IN GREENBACKS ............................. 12 NATIONAL MOTTO “IN GOD WE TRUST” ........................ 13 THE GREAT SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES ....................... 13 Obverse Side of
    [Show full text]
  • American Civil War JCC
    Stanford Model United Nations 2014 AmericanConference Civil 2014 War United States Confederate States Chair: Alex Richard Chair: Julien Brinson Richard4@stanford.edu jbrinson@stanford.edu Assistant Chair: Marina Assistant Chair: Shivani Kalliga Baisiwala Crisis Director: Ben Krausz Crisis Director: Max Morales Educational Topics Covered: Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people from 1800 to the mid-1800s and the challenges they faced, with emphasis on the Northeast. Discuss the influence of industrialization and technological developments on the region, including human modification of the landscape and how physical geography shaped human actions (e.g., growth of cities, deforestation, farming, mineral extraction). Outline the physical obstacles to and the economic and political factors involved in building a network of roads, canals, and railroads (e.g., Henry Clay’s American System). Study the lives of black Americans who gained freedom in the North and founded schools and churches to advance their rights and communities. Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people in the South from 1800 to the mid- 1800s and the challenges they faced. Describe the development of the agrarian economy in the South, identify the locations of the cotton-producing states, and discuss the significance of cotton and the cotton gin. Trace the origins and development of slavery; its effects on black Americans and on the region’s political, social, religious, economic, and cultural development; and identify the strategies that were tried to both overturn and preserve it (e.g., through the writings and historical documents on Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey). Compare the lives of and opportunities for free blacks in the North with those of free blacks in the South.
    [Show full text]