Why Does Occurrency Have A Lifespan?

Even before the creation of the Federal Reserve, banks were used by the public just as we use them today. Deposits were made into savings accounts. Loans were taken out to mortgage a home or finance a new business. Banknotes were issued and spent when the public borrowed from the banks. Borrowers spent these banknotes just as paper money is spent today. These bank notes were valued as money since they were backed by the promise that they would be exchanged on demand for either gold or silver.

The penny has been the lowest domination for 154 years. The United States started using the penny in 1793. President Abraham Lincoln is on the penny. The penny is made out of copper. The average penny last twenty-five years.

Look for colored fibers in the paper. All U.S. bills have tiny red and blue fibers embedded in the paper. Counterfeiters sometimes try to reproduce these by printing or drawing these fibers onto the paper, but close inspection reveals that on the counterfeit note you will see that they are printed on, rather than being part of the paper itself.

In 1811, when the first bank of the United States concluded, many banknotes were distributed, but banks were not keeping enough silver and gold to collect when requested. Large number of notes were handed out with different values and collections all at the same time as a result counterfeiting was easy. Congress handled and funded the second bank of the United States in 1816 which were allowed the state bank to issue money but its amount did not authorize

In addition to having a population that was more than twice that of the South, the North had enough food to feed all of its people, including its armies. Plus, it boasted many factories that produced much of what those armies needed. The federal arsenal at Springfield, Massachusetts alone produced over one million rifles for the army, and countless rounds of ammunition. The Union armies had wagons, tents, and its factory-produced uniforms. (southern uniforms were generally of a brownish grey homespun color.) The North enjoyed 69% of the railroad capacity compared to only 31% in the South, and held all of the currency reserves of the federal government. The Midwest and Northeast were the most industrialized areas of the country, and those factories quickly turned to making war supplies that kept the massive Union armies relatively well-equipped. Despite these advantages, the government needed money, and it went to great lengths to get it. First, it issued a massive bond measure in which citizens and financial institutions were asked to buy bonds to fund the war. When this failed to yield enough money for the war, the Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, decided to print paper money. The “greenbacks,” as paper money became known, were initially backed by gold, and then later by the bonds that the government sold. In a complicated scheme, the government sold bonds for greenbacks but repaid the interest in gold,

The Federal Reserve was not established until 1913. During the Revolutionary war, the federal government printed the United States first printed money. However after the war ended, the U.S. had a substantial amount of debt and there was no common currency at that time. In 1790 the First Bank of the U.S. was established to help deal with war debts that the United States had accumulated. Alexander Hamilton, the United States treasury secretary at the time, designed the bank. The bank had a main office in Philadelphia, and a branch in each of the nation’s 8 major cities.Though originally designed to help with the government’s finances, it also served as a commercial bank. This bank lasted from 1791 to 1811. As the debt from the War of 1812 piled

President Lincoln who is a great model of the USA, " would be ashamed to have his face on this specious specie"(Source C). Why would they put the face of a great president who did good things in the US on a piece of copper that has no value what so ever. He will feel no gratitude toward the country by repaying his hard work in a non-valuable piece of copper that should be helping but its really not. As years pass by, the economy is changing by how much money is worth by stating that, " you can't buy anything with a penny any more"(Source C). The penny was worth more back then but now you can't even buy a piece of gum with it. If the penny can't even buy a product why keep it around, its not like its being used. It can also be said that, " Two-thirds of them immediately drop out of circulation" (Source C). Meaning to say that approximately sixty-six percent of pennies disappear or just end up in a place where it will eventually be

For Americans firsts 70 years private entities and not the federal government issued paper money. Notes that was printed by the states chartered banks which could of been exchange for gold and silver. From the founding of the United States passage of National Banking Act 8,000 different countries issued currency which created a widely money supply facilitated rampant counterfeiting. By establishing a single national currency the National Banking act eliminated the overwhelming variety of paper money circulating throughout the country and created a system of banks chartered by the federal government rather than by the states. The law also assisted the federal government in financing the Civil War. Before gold and silver was discovered in the west the United States lacked sufficient quantity of precious metals for minting coins. A 1793 law permitted spanish dollars and other foreign coins to be a part of the American monetary system. Foreign coins was not banned until 1857. The highest bill ever produced by the United States Bureau of Engraving and printing was the $100,000 gold certificate. The money was printed between December 18, 1934 and January 9, 1935 with the picture of President Woodrow on the front. The notes wasn’t available to the public they were only use for transaction

The one cent coin was first produced in 1787 by private mints. 5 years later the first U.S. pennies were created. According to the Americans for Common Cents organization, over 300 billion one cent coins have been produced since 1787. Over time, more and more people have thought the penny has outlived its worth. Though, there are still a large amount of people who believe the penny is necessary to the U.S. economy.

Click, Click, Click… the penny falls helplessly onto the floor from the customer's wallet as they pull out a crisp five dollar bill. There the penny will stay unless it is swept up into a long forgotten corner or somewhere on the street. The Times John Tierney noted five years ago, that “two-thirds of pennies” share a similar fate. (Source C) For every penny the government manufactures we lose a half of a cent, though seemingly miniscule, when multiplied by the ten million pennies minted on a daily basis, that's an even five million dollars going

Despite the inflation of New England paper money, it was successful in stimulating the New England economy. Likewise, Pennsylvania utilized the Pennsylvania pound to fend off a depression in the 1720s, but unlike New England, their bills stayed stable throughout their circulation until the Revolutionary War. To understand why these paper currencies were so successful, it is

In 1864, the first pennies were made. In 1909, they were made with Abraham Lincoln’s face printed into it, in honor of his 100th birthday. That was 108 years ago, and pennies are still going around today, with the same president still printed on. However, many U.S. officials are saying the penny should be obsolete. More believe that the little copper and zinc coin should stay as a piece of U.S. money. This essay will give evidence on both sides, supporting them equally in their arguments on why the penny should stay, or go.

Its impossible to imagine a world without money. However, do we actually know how our money is designed? Who has a say is how it looks? And how exactly does it get integrated into the public? Most would not be able to answer such questions. However, with the recent decision to change the face on the ten dollar bill, it is important that we know the process in which this takes place. Alexander Hamilton's face has always been on the ten dollar bill. Now that Secretary of State, Jack Lew, has proposed to put a woman on the ten dollar bill, who exactly should we choose? With this question, we must consider the historical and cultural facts for this monumental decision.

Why? Inflation. The Consumer Price Index was at 36.8 then, while it's at about 231 today, meaning that a $1,000 bill today would be the equivalent of a relatively modest $159 bill during the Summer of Love. Does it make any sense that we've lost larger denominations as the value of a dollar has gotten progressively smaller? The Treasury argues that keeping the denominations inconveniently small minimizes the possibility of money laundering. This statement could be interpreted as an argument for getting rid of the $50 and $100 bills while we're at it, but that's a topic for a different time.

There are many factors contributing to our inconclusive results, ultimately leading us to reject our hypothesis. All of our bacteria came from EMB plates, which supported our claim that a gram-negative bacterium grows on the surface of paper money. Out of the twenty different monetary samples we swabbed for bacterial growth, only the fifty-dollar currency bacterium was cultured; all three of our fifty-dollar bill samples grew. The fifty-dollar bill has an average life cycle of 55 months, which is the longest life span of any U.S. dollar bill (3). The fifty-dollar bill is also the least replaced U.S. dollar bill, having only 3.7% of the total currency replacement in a year (3). The lasting life span and low amounts of fifty-dollar bills in circulation allows for the fifty-dollar bill to have the opportunity for the most enriched microbial life of all the U.S. dollar bills.