Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Detail of the obverse of a Series 1950 United States ten-dollar bill, showing the phrase "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private, and is redeemable in lawful money at the United States Treasury, or at any Federal Reserve Bank." This phrase was subsequently shortened in later issues to "This note is legal tender for all ...
A United States Note, also known as a Legal Tender Note, is a type of paper money that was issued from 1862 to 1971 in the United States. Having been current for 109 years, they were issued for longer than any other form of U.S. paper money other than the currently issued Federal Reserve Note .
The Legal Tender Cases were two 1871 United States Supreme Court cases that affirmed the constitutionality of paper money. The two cases were Knox v. Lee and Parker v. Davis. The U.S. federal government had issued paper money known as United States Notes during the American Civil War, pursuant to the terms of the Legal Tender Act of 1862.
Thus the United States moved to a gold standard, making both gold and silver the legal-tender coinage of the United States, and guaranteed the dollar as convertible to 23.22 grains (1.50463 grams, 0.048375 troy ounces) of pure gold, or a little over $20.67 per ounce.
In addition, banks were required to maintain a redemption fund [1] amounting to five percent of any outstanding note balance, in gold or "lawful money." The notes were not legal tender in general, but were satisfactory for nearly all payments to and by the federal government.
Congress used the National Banking Act of July 12, 1882, to clarify the legal tender status of silver certificates [27] by clearly authorizing them to be included in the lawful reserves of national banks. [28] A general appropriations act of August 4, 1886, authorized the issue of $1, $2, and $5 silver certificates.
For premium support please call: 800-290-4726 more ways to reach us
[7] [8] In 1986 the federal government introduced the American Gold Eagle coin series, the first gold money produced by the United States since the Great Depression. These coins are legal tender at their face value, but the Mint offers them only as collectibles at their much higher bullion value, not as a form of payment by the government.