Abraham Lincoln and the Greenbacks

Mayer Anselm Rothschild was one of the founders of the well known House of Rothchild. In 1790 he said: 

“Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws...”

In 1791, a central bank was established in the USA with a twenty year charter. It was called the First Bank of the USA but the charter was not renewed although a Second Bank of the USA was established in 1816. In 1832, President Andrew Jackson successfully ran his campaign for a second term using the slogan:

"Jackson and no bank"

In 1836, he was the subject of an unsuccessful assassination attempt but again the charter was not renewed.

The Civil War was fought between 1861 and1865 between the pro-slavery, Confederate South and the anti-slavery, Union North. President Abraham Lincoln led the union campaign and he attempted to raise money to finance the war from private banks based in the north. He was horrified and greatly distressed when bankers tried  to charge an interest rate of between 24% to 36%. President Lincoln was an honest man of great principle who loved his country and he refused to burden it with a massive debt which would be impossible to repay .

After much deliberation, he was advised to print his own currency to pay for the war effort and, with the backing of congress, he printed $400 million of treasury notes which had full legal tender. The notes were printed with green ink on the back and they became known as “Greenbacks”

President Lincoln soon recognized the great benefits of this course of action. He wrote:

“... (we) gave the people of this Republic the greatest blessing they have ever had – their own paper money to pay their own debts...”

The money was debt free and interest free and was used to finance the war effort by purchasing supplies, paying civil service employees and paying soldiers 

Soon after, The Times newspaper based in London printed: 

“If that mischievous financial policy, which had its origin in the North American Republic, should become indurated down to a fixture, then that Government will furnish its own money without cost. It will pay off debts and be without a debt. It will have all the money necessary to carry on its commerce. It will become prosperous beyond precedent in the history of the civilized governments of the world. The brains and the wealth of all coun­tries will go to North America. That govern­ment must be destroyed, or it will destroy every monarchy on the globe.”

The British Government began to actively support the Confederate South and tried to defeat the Union forces controlled by President Lincoln. They were stopped by two things. 

1.  President Lincoln knew that the British people would not support slavery so he issued the Emancipation Proclamation and declared that slavery was abolished in the USA. The British Government could not then openly support the Confederate South against the wishes of the British people.

2.  The Union forces were blockading southern ports to stop fresh supplies arriving from abroad. The Czar of Russia sent part of his Pacific fleet to the USA with orders to operate under the command of President Lincoln. They docked San Francisco and New York and acted as a deterrent to the Royal Navy and prevented them from breaking the blockade and helping the South.

The North won the war, the Union was preserved and the USA remained as one nation.

In 1865, President Lincoln said:

"I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me, and the financial institutions in the rear. Of the two, the one in my rear is my greatest foe."

President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated soon after.

Congress repealed the Green­back Law and brought in the National Banking Act instead. The national banks became privately owned and able to issue interest bearing currency. The Greenbacks were removed from circulation as soon as it was possible.

In 1913, Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act which replaced the National Banking Act. It relinquished the power to create money (initially given by the Constitution of the USA) and handed it to a group of private bankers who called themselves the Federal Reserve. 

In 1963, President, John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 1110 giving him the power to create his own currency. He was assassinated soon after

In 1972, the Treasury Department of the USA calculated that President Lincoln saved $4 billion dollars in interest payments by creating his own currency. Think about how much interest the government has actually paid