Title: Greenback (1860s money) - Wikipedia
Headings: Greenback (1860s money)
Greenback (1860s money)
Contents
History
Before Civil War
Civil War
Demand Notes
United States Notes
Complete set of 1862–63 greenbacks
See also
Notes
References
Sources
Further reading

Content: By mid-1863, about 95% of them had been gone. United States Notes
Main article: United States Notes
The number of Demand Notes issued was far insufficient to meet the war expenses of the government but even so was not supportable. The solution came from Colonel "Dick" Taylor, an Illinois businessman who was serving as a volunteer officer. Taylor met with Lincoln in January 1862 and suggested issuing unbacked paper money. Issuing unbacked paper money was not an idea that Lincoln really liked, but there was mounting pressure in Congress to do something. The government could either print its own money or go into deep perpetual debt to foreign creditors. That made President quickly endorse Taylor's proposal. On February 25, 1862, Congress passed the first Legal Tender Act, which authorized the issuance of $150 million in United States Notes. Since the reverse of the notes was printed with green ink, they were called "greenbacks" by the public and considered to be equivalent to the Demand Notes, which were already known as such.