Lengyel, Christian M., PhD., December 2021 History Greenbacks and Greybacks: Iconographic Depictions of Union and Confederate Nationalism on Civil War-Era Currency (335 pp.) Dissertation Advisor: Kevin Adams Nationalism studies have recently increased in popularity, and particularly those focused on the era of the U.S. Civil War. But for all the attention scholars have given to this specific area of research, no single investigation exists that directly compares and contrasts the visual patriotic impulses of the North and the South under the banner of one holistic work. Further, no authority has ever accomplished such a feat using the iconographies on both sides' government-issued paper dollars as the main vehicles for inquiring into this important facet of the country's history. The present dissertation utilizes those essential artifacts as a means of illustrating the Union and the Confederacy's separate nationalistic philosophies and highlighting that, from the start of the struggle, they included different casts of characters, subjects, and symbols. These findings indicate that each body attempted to portray itself as a distinct entity who relied on inherently individualized sets of "signs" to exemplify its leaders' divergent ideas about proper American patriotism. Therefore, by using the analytical technique of semiotics - as well as quantitative and qualitative assessments - to classify the images at-hand, the following review tests the significance, frequency, and type(s) of monetary vignettes that northern and southern Treasury officials employed to represent their respective nations. What it discovers is that the initial batteries of U.S. Greenbacks were far simpler, less inconsistent, and more unique in their appearance than early C.S.A. Greybacks, only showcasing added layers complexity when it became apparent that the North would emerge victorious. This project thus argues that contrary to the convoluted designs of Confederate bills, the fixed features of United States scrip simultaneously brought to the forefront and continued to mold citizens' trust in the State which, in turn, helped to partially ensure the successes of the country and its currency.

The story of Matthew Mason and his family is a story of valor in the face of overwhelming odds, of ingenuity when such was absolutely necessary for survival, of family when clinging together was a necessity for life itself. How they survived the tumult is, indeed, a story of the triumph of the human spirit. In 1865 the Civil War was over but not the economic and social war that was waged against the people of Northern Virginia during the uneasy peace that followed. The Mason family was a part of the Quaker community that came to the Shenandoah Valley in Northern Virginia in the early 16th century. They were there before the United States was born, even before Virginia was a state. They were an extension of the historic Mason family that was instrumental in the founding, not only of their state but of the United States of America. As pacifists they were not a part of the Civil War that had ravaged their valley for five disastrous years. Despite using their Hopewell Meeting House for a hospital for Union and Confederate soldiers alike, they were held accountable for the war by the Union administration just like the rest of the Old South. Their taxes were ten times what they were before the war, even though their confederate dollars were worthless and the banks were closed. The "Carpetbaggers," Northerners who saw an opportunity to get rich on the misery of the defeated South, came in droves to take their farms if they couldn't raise the money to pay the taxes. To this turmoil came the Ku Klux Klan attempting to insert itself into every aspect of life with their burning crosses and their constant threats to the people, both black and white. Avoiding conflict had become a way of life for the Mason family and the other Quaker families who lived together North of Winchester, Virginia while the Civil War had raged around them. In the years following the shooting war another war raged, one just as devastating, and just as life changing. It was one they had to win.

Is it true that King Louis XIV never bathed? Was Doc Holliday really a doctor? Who were the twelve knights of King Arthur's Round Table? And what do Scots traditionally wear under their kilts? You'll get the answers to these fascinating questions and many, many more in the wildly entertaining, un-put-down-able Just Curious About History, Jeeves. Based on the legion of unexpected questions posed at the popular Ask Jeeves Web site, Just Curious tackles all the puzzlers, bafflers, and stumpers that find their way into our everyday lives. What were the Pig Wars and were they actually caused by pigs? Who were the first gangsters? Did Cleopatra really wear makeup? Was Ivan the Terrible that terrible? Sure curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back. So if you want to know how tall Napoleon was, whether Captain Kidd had any little Kidds, or who the heck Charles the Fat was, look no further than Just Curious About History, Jeeves -- the unequivocal say-all, end-all, be-all authority on history's who, what, where, when, why, and how.

The monetary system is at a turning point. The question is no longer if, but how soon countries will roll out a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). This book discusses the recomposition of the money supply from the present bank money regime to a monetary system determined by CBDC. As the book sets out, the future of money is going to be digital and sovereign. Nonetheless, the relationship between the various types of money is competitive rather than being the peaceful coexistence that was officially envisaged. CBDC competes with the incumbent bank money as well as with private cryptocurrencies that are challenging both central-bank money as well as bank money. For technological and political reasons, bank money will not be able to emulate the superior properties of sovereign digital tokens. Uncovered and unwarranted cryptocurrencies, too, will not stand the competition in the long run. The shifts in the monetary system are changing the role of central banks in the interplay of monetary, fiscal and private-creditary functions and open up improved options for monetary policy. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers, and policymakers in monetary and financial economics, and digital currencies.

The colorful history of paper money before the Civil War Before Civil War greenbacks and a national bank network established a uniform federal currency in the United States, the proliferation of loosely regulated banks saturated the early American republic with upwards of 10,000 unique and legal bank notes. This number does not even include the plethora of counterfeit bills and the countless shinplasters of questionable legality issued by unregulated merchants, firms, and municipalities. Adding to the chaos was the idiosyncratic method for negotiating their value, an often manipulative face-to-face discussion consciously separated from any haggling over the price of the work, goods, or services for sale. In Bank Notes and Shinplasters, Joshua R. Greenberg shows how ordinary Americans accumulated and wielded the financial knowledge required to navigate interpersonal bank note transactions. Locating evidence of Americans grappling with their money in fiction, correspondence, newspapers, printed ephemera, government documents, legal cases, and even on the money itself, Greenberg argues Americans, by necessity, developed the ability to analyze the value of paper financial instruments, assess the strength of banking institutions, and even track legislative changes that might alter the rules of currency circulation. In his examination of the doodles, calculations, political screeds, and commercial stamps that ended up on bank bills, he connects the material culture of cash to financial, political, and intellectual history. The book demonstrates that the shift from state-regulated banks and private shinplaster producers to federally authorized paper money in the Civil War era led to the erasure of the skill, knowledge, and lived experience with banking that informed debates over economic policy. The end result, Greenberg writes, has been a diminished public understanding of how currency and the financial sector operate in our contemporary era, from the 2008 recession to the rise of Bitcoin.