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FR 16 Legal Tender 1.00 XF
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Item Number: US Legal Tender FR16 32548
Manufacturer: United States Treasury
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FR 16 Legal Tender 1.00
United States Currency being FR 16, 1.00 Legal Tender and issued on August 1st, 1862. These series of 1862 were the very first Federal 1.00 bills. They were issued during the Civil War to help the North finance the War. They also have a fancy green back and this gave the beginning to the term of Greenback for United States Currency. The various printing firms of the mid 19th century thought that the green color was harder to counterfeit. The 1.00 Friedberg 16 notes were signed by Chittenden and Spinner, have a small red seal at the bottom left side, the serial numbers are in red and printed twice on the notes. The bust on the left side of the bill is Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase. This Legal Tender issue of 1862 was printed in large quantities and is available today, if you want a nice piece of fairly inexpensive Northern Currency of the Civil War, then these notes are a good purchase. The pictures show the actual front and back of this note that is for sale.
Salmon P. Chase portrait on the 1862 issue of 1.00 Legal Tender Notes
Salmon P. Chase resigned from the Senate in 1861 to become the 25th Secretary of the Treasury as the Civil War began. He served for President Lincoln in that capacity from March 7, 1861 until June 30, 1864.
The war created the need to raise money, and with customs revenue from the Southern cotton trade cut off, Chase had to implement internal taxes. The Bureau of Internal Revenue, later the Internal Revenue Service, was created in 1862 to collect stamp taxes and internal duties. The next year it administered the nation's first income tax.
In order to further finance the war, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing was established in 1862 to print the government's first currency, known as greenbacks because of their color. These were legal tender notes not backed by specie. Chase disapproved in principle of the legal tender notes; with no requirement for specie backing they could be printed in unlimited quantities and were therefore inflationary. He recognized their necessity in a time of emergency, but later, as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, he would declare the notes unconstitutional.
The National Banking System was created in 1863 to establish a uniform currency. The greenbacks, within a new network of national banks, directly involved the government in banking for the first time. Chase resigned in 1864, having put the nation's finances in a more favorable condition. Lincoln appointed him Chief Justice later that year, and he presided over the Court during the difficult period of Reconstruction.
Salmon P. Chase was born in 1808. He died in 1873.
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