Why did the American dollar get its unusual nickname?
Until 1861, the United States actually did not have a single banknote system. Payments were made through banks or used “voiced coin”. Even the Treasury Notes bonds of the US Treasury that existed at that time could not be considered full-fledged notes.
But the American Civil War demanded huge cash injections. Therefore, on July 17, 1861, the US Congress passed an act obligating the Treasury to issue new banknotes for an astronomical sum of 60 million dollars at that time.
The order was to be completed by the New York printing company American Bank Note Co. Given that the act of July 17 authorized the release of only denominations of 5, 10 and 20 dollars, one can imagine what a huge amount of banknotes had to be made. Printers approached the matter from a purely practical side: they checked, first of all, the paint stocks in the warehouses and found out that it was the most green.
So millions of banknotes were issued with a green back. They almost immediately received the nickname "greenbags" (English greenbacks - "green backs"), which was fixed for all types of American currency, regardless of its color. Later it was transformed into bucks.
The Treasury adopted this tradition, for a long time issuing banknotes with only green circulation. It was only in 2004 that banknotes of other colors were issued. The changes affected banknotes of 10, 20 and 50 US dollars.
Periodically, proposals are made to withdraw from circulation a banknote in denominations of $ 1 and replace it with coins of the corresponding denomination. But the decision to withdraw this banknote by the US Congress was not made.
But the American Civil War demanded huge cash injections. Therefore, on July 17, 1861, the US Congress passed an act obligating the Treasury to issue new banknotes for an astronomical sum of 60 million dollars at that time.
The order was to be completed by the New York printing company American Bank Note Co. Given that the act of July 17 authorized the release of only denominations of 5, 10 and 20 dollars, one can imagine what a huge amount of banknotes had to be made. Printers approached the matter from a purely practical side: they checked, first of all, the paint stocks in the warehouses and found out that it was the most green.
Photo © ru.wikipedia.org
So millions of banknotes were issued with a green back. They almost immediately received the nickname "greenbags" (English greenbacks - "green backs"), which was fixed for all types of American currency, regardless of its color. Later it was transformed into bucks.
The Treasury adopted this tradition, for a long time issuing banknotes with only green circulation. It was only in 2004 that banknotes of other colors were issued. The changes affected banknotes of 10, 20 and 50 US dollars.
Periodically, proposals are made to withdraw from circulation a banknote in denominations of $ 1 and replace it with coins of the corresponding denomination. But the decision to withdraw this banknote by the US Congress was not made.
