The History of U.S. Paper Currency from the 1700s to Present Day.

Early American colonists used English, Spanish, and French money under English rule. However, in 1775, when the Revolutionary War became inevitable, the Continental Congress authorized the issuance of currency to finance the conflict.

1775 Continental Currency

Paul Revere made the first plates for this "Continental Currency." Those notes were redeemable in Spanish Milled Dollars, and the depreciation of this currency gave rise to the phrase "not worth a Continental."

Series 1886 Martha Washington One Dollar Certificate - Martha Washington is the first and only woman to grace the primary portrait of U.S. paper currency.

After the U.S. Constitution was ratified, Congress passed the "Mint Act" of April 2, 1792, which established the coinage system of the United States and the dollar as the principal currency unit. By this Act, the U.S. became the first country in the world to adopt the decimal system for currency. The first U.S. coins were struck in 1793 at the Philadelphia Mint and presented to Martha Washington.

The Government did not issue paper money until 1861. In the interim years, however, the Government did issue "Treasury notes" intermittently during periods of financial stress, such as the War of 1812, the Mexican War of 1846, and the Panic of 1857.

During this same period (1793 - 1861), approximately 1,600 private banks were permitted to print and circulate their own paper currency under state charters. Eventually, 7,000 varieties of these "state banknotes" were put in circulation, each carrying a different design!

With the onset of the Civil War, the Government - desperate for money to finance the war - passed the Act of July 17, 1861, permitting the Treasury Department to print and circulate paper money. The first paper money issued by the Government was "demand notes," commonly referred to as "GREENBACKS." In 1862, Congress retired the demand notes and began issuing United States notes, also called legal tender notes.

Series 1889 One Dollar Silver Certificate

Under the Congressional Acts of 1878 and 1886, five different issues of "silver certificates" were produced, ranging from $1 to $1,000 notes. The Treasury exchanged silver certificates for silver dollars because the size and weight of the silver coins made them unpopular. The last series of silver certificates were issued in 1923. However, the previous series of modern silver certificates produced was the 1957B/1935H $1 notes, series 1953C $5 notes, the 1953B $10 notes.

From 1863 to 1929, the Government again permitted thousands of banks to issue their own notes under the National Banks Acts of 1863 and 1864. These were called "national banknotes," but unlike the earlier "state banknotes," they were produced on paper authorized by the U.S. government and carried the same basic design.

In 1913, Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act, establishing this nation's Federal Reserve System. This Act authorized the Federal Reserve Banks to issue Federal Reserve Banknotes. In 1914, the Federal Reserve Banks began issuing Federal Reserve notes - the only currency still manufactured today is by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

How did people get to work on time before alarm clocks were invented?

Before the days of alarm clocks, people still needed to get to work on time.

A knocker-up, sometimes known as a knocker-upper, was a profession in Britain and Ireland that started during and lasted well into the Industrial Revolution before alarm clocks were invented and even after, as alarm clocks were neither cheap nor reliable. A knocker-up's job was to rouse sleeping people so they could get to work on time. By the 1940s and 1950s, this profession had died out.

The knocker-up used a baton or short, heavy stick to knock on the clients' doors or a long and light stick, often made of bamboo, to reach windows on the second floor. In return, the knocker-up would be paid a few pence a week. The knocker-up would not leave a client's window until they were sure that the client had been awoken.

A knocker-upper would also use a 'snuffer outer' as a tool to rouse the sleeping. This implement was used to put out gas lamps that were lit at dusk and then needed to be extinguished at dawn.

There were large numbers of people carrying out the job, especially in larger industrial towns such as Manchester. Generally, the job was done by elderly men and women but sometimes police constables supplemented their pay by performing the task during early morning patrols.

Mrs. Molly Moore (daughter of Mrs. Mary Smith, also a knocker-up and the protagonist of a children's picture book by Andrea U'Ren called Mary Smith) claims to have been the last knocker-up to have been employed as such. Both Mary Smith and Molly Moore used a long rubber tube as a peashooter, to shoot dried peas at their client's windows.

In Ferryhill, County Durham, miner's houses had slate boards set into their outside wall onto which the miners would write their shift details in chalk so that the employed knocker-up could wake them at the correct time. These boards were known as "knocky-up boards" or "wake-up slates."

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

Did the Ford Model T Really Come in Black Only?

"YOU CAN HAVE ANY COLOR AS LONG AS IT'S BLACK." — HENRY FORD

Henry Ford (1863-1947) documented that he made the "any color so long as it is black" comment during a meeting in 1909. This famous quote by Henry Ford led to many people believing that the Ford Model T was available only in black. This is, however, wrong. 

The first production Model T was built on August 12, 1908 ($850 retail - $24,500 today) and left the factory on September 27, 1908, at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan. Also known as "Tin Lizzie," the Ford Model T was the first affordable mass-production car.

Or, to be precise, the first affordable horseless carriage. Henry Ford aimed to make a car "large enough for the family but small enough for the individual to run and care for." Price was also kept low so that anyone who made a decent living could afford one.

This 1908 Ford Model T Touring (Tin Lizzy) is the earliest restored (in its original color) Model T known to exist, bearing serial number 90. One of the first 800 Model Ts made is a so-called "two lever car," meaning it has two levers on the left floorboard, two pedals on the floor, and two levers (for spark and throttle) in the steering column. Cars built after unit 800 were reconfigured with Flivver's famous three-pedal/one-lever layout. It sold at auction for $121,000 in 2015.

On December 1, 1913, Henry Ford installed the first moving assembly line to mass production of an entire automobile. His innovation reduced the time it took to build a car from more than 12 hours to 2½ hours.

Henry Ford with the Ford Model T.

So what about the notion that Ford Model T cars came only in black?

During the early stages of the Model T production, the car was available in almost any color except black. In fact, the very first model came in red. Later models of the Ford Model T came with various colors such as green, bright red, dark blue, maroon, brown, grey, and, of course, black. 

But from 1914 to 1925, the Model T came only in black. There are many theories as to why Henry Ford chose only black back then. Ford Model T models were painted using a technique called japanning (known today as baked enamel). The coating was used for decorative items in the 1800s. Japanning gave a piano black finish and was also proved to be durable and rugged. Black was the only pigment it worked in.

Another theory is that black color dried faster than any color, which helped boost production. Also, in 1914, Henry Ford introduced assembly line car manufacturing, something every vehicle manufacturer follows today. Assembly line production was really efficient for Ford, and black paint was cheaper than color. Black could also be easily applied by almost anyone as it didn't require much detailing and precision like other paint colors. 

This period also saw high demand for the Ford Model T, and Ford Motor Company had to meet the increased demand with enough supply. The variety of colors vanished temporarily because of the need for assembly speed. Using only Black paint meant more Model T cars rolled off the assembly line, and Ford's cost per car dropped. Most buyers weren't complaining either because the Model T looked really good in black. 

But in the late 1920s, competitors of the Model T were offered in different colors. Eventually, Ford was forced to produce the Model T in colors other than black to maintain sales.

The production of the Ford Model T ended on May 25, 1927 ($300 retail - $4,500 today), an 82% reduction from the original 1909 retail cost due to assembly-line production. In almost 18 years, 15 million cars were produced. 

The fifteen millionth milestone Ford Model T was green in color.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The Sport of Pistol Dueling.

As reported in the Chicago Tribune in 1909, a French inventor created bullets made of wax that worked in dueling pistols and the Army's standard-issue revolvers. Duelists wore loosely fitting garments and wire-and-glass masks for protection. Pistols were fitted with hand shields. 

Chicago Tribune, July 13, 1909

Opponents faced each other, at a distance of 25 paces (60 feet apart). A director barked the command: "Fire!" Officials were on hand to judge the accuracy of the shots.

That same year, there was a New York Times account of a bloodless duel at the Panzer Gymnasium at Carnegie Hall, the city's Athletic Club. Two men — wearing long black gowns and protective masks — faced each other in the gymnasium. "All agreed," the paper reported, "that it was a fine shooting game."

Prideful men could fluff their feathers without anyone ending up dead.

Such pistol duels were explosive gestures of pride. Often, however, the two opponents entered their duel under a mutual agreement to shoot into the air or at the ground; even if they aimed for each other, their guns were often so unpredictable that fatalities were unlikely. 

Pistols and waxed bullets used in the New York duels.

The practice of dueling held sway from words to swords to guns, well into the history of the American South, where it remained so popular for so long that legislators had to step in.

Wax bullet duels appear to have first emerged in France, and in the early 1900s, a “School of Dueling” was established in Paris. At the elite academy, practice duels employed wax bullets, and trainee duelers wore protective face masks, but in every other way, they followed the rules and honor codes of classic dueling. 

The bloodless duels made a brief cameo at the 1908 Olympics.

A version of the sport was even featured as a demonstration event at the 1908 London Summer Olympics, in addition to its inclusion at international pistol and revolver championships.

The wax bullets, however, were not entirely benign. Without adequate protection, and at closer quarters, the bullets could still lop off bits of the body, and spectators needed to be wary of any stray bullets, especially in the vicinity of their eyes.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.