Contraction Act of 1866

Contraction Act of 1866 was an act passed by Congress of the united states on April 12, 1866 intended to lower the price level so they could reinstate the gold standard.

History

Abraham Lincoln created the Greenbacks in 1862, they were a currency of free money issued by the United States of America between 1861 until 1865, the currency was not based in gold and was not created by private banks.[1]

Greenbacks were paper currency (printed in green on the back) issued by the United States during the American Civil War, they were in two forms: Demand Notes, issued In July 1861 (Congress authorized $50,000,000 in Demand Notes)[2] and in the form of United States Notes issued between 1862–1865.[3]

11 months after Lincoln assassination (April 14th 1865), Congress of the united states created the Contraction Act of 1866 to lower the price level so they could instate a gold standard.

See also

References
  1. Brands, 2011, p. 1
  2. The Continental Dollar: What Happened to it after 1779?, Farley Grubb, NBER Working Paper No. W13770, February 2008.
  3. Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S., 2006, Paper Money of the United States, 18th Edition, Clifton, NJ, The Coin & Currency Institute, Inc. ISBN 0-87184-518-0
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