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“The History of Money”

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“The History of Money” PART #2 “The History of Money” Author: Gloria Henderson Education Get Real FINANCIAL LITERACY: - “The Money Trail” 10 The History of Money From Bartering to Electronic Money In the beginning, bartering was the only medium of exchange of goods and services, and the practice of bartering dates back thousands of years. Overtime it became more and more difficult as civilizations grew and territories expanded, and new mediums of exchange for goods and services became necessary. The first and oldest form of money was cattle (cows, camels, sheep and other livestock). Cowrie shells, found in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, were accepted by many civilizations as money. These shells were the most widely and longest used currency in history. Salt has been exceptionally important for thousands of years. Its ability to preserve food was a foundation of civilization. Salt was difficult to obtain and a highly valued trade item and considered a form of currency. The earliest form of metal money was made from bronze and copper at the end of the Stone Age by the Chinese. The development of modern coinage included lumps of silver (melted silver ore), these coins were stamped with various gods and emperors for authenticity. Later, the Roman empires and others copied and refined the coins by using precious metals such as gold, silver and bronze thus giving them greater value. Money evolved and recognized as the medium of exchange throughout history included: Leather money (deerskin), potlash (Chinook Indian custom), wampum (string of beads made from clam shells), gold standard (England in 1816), paper money/currency – Continentals (issued during the American Revolution), Greenbacks (issued during the Civil War), to today’s accepted currency issued and controlled by the Federal Reserve Banks. Now, in the digital age, financial transactions take place electronically without the exchange of physical currency. Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/history-money.html United States Currency The Department of the Treasury – The Constitution was adopted in 1788, and it gave Congress the sole authority to mint coins and control their value. In 1789, Congress established the U.S. Department of Treasury, and the first Secretary of the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton. The Department of Treasury was responsible for overseeing the production of coins and currency notes. Congress established two agencies to manufacture the currency: The United States Mint and The Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The United States Mint – The Coinage Act of 1792 created the United States Mint. It is the federal agency responsible for the production and distribution of coins. Today, coins are made of copper, nickel, and an alloy, however, in the past the Mint produced gold and silver coins. Coins are minted/manufactured in denominations of a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar, and dollar. These coins are minted in Denver and Philadelphia, and the coins are marked below the date it was minted with a “D” for Denver or “P” for Philadelphia, however, not all coins minted in Philadelphia have the “P” mintmark. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing – Congress authorized the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1862 to design, engrave, and print the official paper money of the United States. The Federal Reserve notes are issued today in the amounts of: $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100, and these notes are the legal tender of the United States of America. 2014 Education: Get Real!!! (Revised for TpT) – Arvada, CO FINANCIAL LITERACY: - “The Money Trail” 11 The Federal Reserve – The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was passed by Congress to manage the nation’s monetary policy and to oversee the nation’s banking system. The act established the Federal Reserve System, and it is called the Fed. The Fed consists of 12 regional banks located throughout the country, and the Fed has control over the amount of money that is in circulation at any given time. Protecting United States Currency The United States Secret Service – was created by Congress in 1865, and in 1883 was officially acknowledged as a distinct organization within the U.S. Department of Treasury. Its initial responsibility was to investigate counterfeiting of U.S. currency, which was rampant following the Civil War. Throughout many years, the U.S. Secret Service evolved, and is currently responsible for financial crimes, overseeing missions such as prevention and investigation of counterfeiting of U.S. currency and U.S. treasury securities, and the investigation of major fraud. In 2003, the U.S. Secret Service transferred from the Treasury Department to the Department of Homeland Security. Since 2003, the Secret Service has made nearly 29,000 criminal arrests for counterfeiting, cyber investigations and other financial crimes, 98% of which resulted in convictions, and they seized more than $295 million in counterfeit currency. The Secret Service investigated and closed financial crimes cases where actual loss amounted to $3.7 billion and prevented a potential loss of more than $12 billion. Guards Against Counterfeiting Paper Money and Coins – In order to obstruct counterfeiters, our government has stamped images on coins, using special ink and paper for currency, and generally maintaining high levels of security surrounding the engraving and production of money. To offset advancements in computer technology in the 1990s, the United States redesigned paper currency, adding water marks, microscopic printing, and magnetic strips, in an ongoing effort to make the task of counterfeiting currency more difficult. How to Identify Counterfeit Money - Spotting counterfeits can be as easy as knowing what to look for when you try to detect a bad note. Below are eight ways to spot a counterfeit money: 1. Portrait – on a real bill, the portrait tends to stand out from the background. 2. Federal Reserve and Treasury Seals – according to the Secret Service, a real dollar bill will have ”clear, distinct, and sharp” Federal Reserve and Treasury Seals. 3. The Border – the outside border on real paper money are clear and unbroken. 4. Serial Numbers – must be the same color as the Treasury Seal. 5. The Paper – real bills will have tiny red and blue fibers embedded in the paper. 6. Starch – the clerks in many stores will use an iodine-based counterfeiting pen, if the bill is real the ink turns yellow. If it is counterfeit, it will turn a dark blue or black. 7. The Feel – probably the most common way to detect counterfeit, real bills have a raised texture to it because of the type of press used to produce the bills. 8. The Watermark – the shadow of the portrait appears when holding the bill up to the light. Counterfeit Bill Is it a counterfeit of a $1 or $10 bill? 2014 Education: Get Real!!! (Revised for TpT) – Arvada, CO FINANCIAL LITERACY: - “The Money Trail” 12 U.S. Money Facts Have you ever wondered . 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. 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 $1 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.
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