Greenbacks
About Greenbacks
Paper currency issued by the US government during the Civil War, so called because of the green ink on the back. Before greenbacks, the government only issued gold and silver coins. The Legal Tender Act of 1862 authorized 150 million in paper money not backed by gold. Greenbacks initially traded at a 40 percent discount to gold. After the war, the government debated whether to redeem greenbacks for gold or keep them in circulation. The Specie Payment Resumption Act of 1875 returned to gold convertibility. Greenbacks were the first widely circulating federal paper money and the ancestor of all modern US currency.
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