Bank Notes Quotes
This is the first major history of banks written in the United States.
During the Civil War, the U. S. Government printed paper money (specie) for the first time. 20 years afterward, the paper money was still controversial.
At the time, a bank note—paper money issued be a private bank—was not backed by any gold or silver and was not insured bym the government. A bank could print as much as they wanted, so it was always worth less as the further you were from the particular issuing bank, the less you could get your bank note, because no one knew whether or not the issuing bank would redeem the note or even be in existence. So every private bank note had diminished value for the public. However, carrying gold and silver around and making change for precious metals was difficult and often impractical. So people used banknotes. The same thing happens with credit cards today. The merchant has to pay a fee to the credit card company and the bank and therefore charges us more for whatever we buy. But most consumers and merchants are willing to pay the difference to obtain the convenience of the credit card,
Much of the South during the Civil War lived in a fantasy universe where all the reality would not impinge upon them. Eggleston was an accomplished writer who had served in the Confederate army of the Civil War. 20 year after the war he wrote a series of articles for the prestigious Northern Atlantic Monthly trying to convey the war from the Southerner’s point of view. The South just kept printing money to take care of their perceived war and civilian needs without regard to the value of the money they were printing. Even in the 21st century collectors had a great deal of Confederate paper money, that had value only as a historical curiosity.
At the time there was no national paper money. Individual banks printed their own and paper money was not accepted or heavily discounted most Americans. Most opposed a tender law that required paper money to be accepted in commerce.
In the 1830's paper money was issued by many public and private agencies. The Mormons, among others, didn't trust the banking system or the Bank Notes of the time. They formed their own organizations and issued Anti_Bank Notes.
