Time Period: 1861-1865

  • The Provisional Congress of the Confederate States in its first session authorized the government to issue paper money. This was not the creation of a distinct currency, a "Confederate States Dollar", rather another type of local currency circulating during the United States' "free-banking" era. The Confederate treasury notes were not outlawed by the Union, but not accepted outside the Confederation, either. The Confederate financing of the civil war expenditure was largely done via the printing press, causing a paper money inflation. In the course of the civil war, the Confederate treasury notes depreciated against gold until they had reached about 1-2% in early 1865. After the war, the notes became worthless, and the United States government formalized their unrecoverably in a constitutional amendment of 1868.

  • Timeline

  • 09.03.1861
  • Confederate Congress Act [No. 58] on the issuance of interest-bearing treasury notes; effective immediately
    - Six further acts on the issuance of (non interest-bearing) treasury notes were passed until 17.02.1864
  • 05.04.1861
  • Start of issuance of the first note series with denominations of 1'000, 100, 50 Confederate Dollars
  • 13.06.1866
  • United States Constitution Amendment [No. 14], section 4 stated "neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States", which included the irredeemability of the Confederate paper money; ratified 09.07.1868