In 2012, it isn’t unusual to go days without using actual money: Lunch goes on the debit card, a clothing purchase goes on the credit card and in some cities even parking meters take plastic. As the Internet and instruments of credit continue to transform our relationship with money, it is worth reflecting on the forms that money has taken in the past.
Before the institution of federally backed paper currency in 1862, the government didn’t see issuing paper money as its responsibility. Although it coined gold and silver, there was never enough in circulation to provide an effective medium of exchange. Because the Constitution prohibited states from printing money, banks became the primary suppliers of paper money in the U.S.
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