United States 5 Dollar Treasury Note 1815

United States paper money 5 Dollar Treasury Note 1815

$5 Treasury Double Signature Remainder Note, March 25, 1815. Act of February 24, 1815

United States paper money - 5 Dollar Treasury Note, March 25, 1815. Act of February 24, 1815.

Obverse: Spread eagle with shield over obligation at upper right, motto in scroll, sunburst in background. Intricate end panels, FIVE DOLLARS across. Obligation across with engraved date top center. 7% Interest bearing note. "The UNITED STATES promised to receive this note for FIVE DOLLARS in all payments to them or to fund the amount at seven per cent interest on request agreeably to the Act of Congress of February 24 1815". Text at right, “Receivable everywhere by the UNITED STATES in payment of duties, taxes & public land.” Signed by F. W. McGeary and C. C. Biddle
Plate d. Murray, Draper, Fairman & Co. Printed on bond paper.

THE TREASURY NOTES OF THE WAR OF 1812

It may be claimed that the first circulating currency issued by the United States did not appear in 1861 as commonly believed, but in 1815–forty-six years earlier than the first Demand Notes. These Treasury Notes were issued following the outbreak of war with Great Britain in June of 1812. With the demise of the First Bank of the United States and no provision for internal revenue taxes, only loans and these innovative notes which bore interest at 1½ cents a day per $100 (except for the “Small Notes” of 1815) were left to provide revenue to prosecute the war.
A total of five issues between 1812 and 1815 totaling $36 million in denominations of $3 to $1,000 were emitted. The notes proved to be extremely successful and were fully subscribed and accepted by banks and merchants.
First Treasury Notes Issue
Originally suggested in 1810 by then Secretary of Treasury Albert Gallatin, Treasury Notes as a resource for raising government revenue were first authorized by Congress on June 30, 1812. A total of $15,000,000 in denominations of $100 and $1,000 were authorized and by December 1812 were fully subscribed by the banks. They bore interest at 5.4% or 1½ cents a day per $100.
Subsequent issues followed a pattern in which Congress first attempted to raise funds by floating long-term loans and then making up the difference with the issue of Treasury Notes. Congress therefore authorized a second issue of $5,000,000 in Treasury Notes on February 25, 1813.
The third issue on March 4, 1814 authorized another $10,000,000 of Treasury Notes. Unlike the first two issues that only authorized $100 and $1,000 notes, this issue and the next included $20 notes.
The fourth Treasury Note issue on December 26, 1814, authorized an additional $10,500,000 of Treasury Notes, but for the first time not all were fully subscribed ($8,318,400). Only $100 and $20 notes are believed to have been printed.
Issuance of Small Denomination Treasury Notes
With new loans and fiscal revenues far from adequate, a new monetary expedient was necessary. Specifically, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee argued for a circulating currency of small denominations payable to bearer, transferable by delivery and receivable in all payments for public lands and taxes.
On February 24, 1815, Congress authorized 25,000,000 of these “Small” Treasury Notes. A few days later, the war ended and only $4,969,400 of $100 notes bearing interest at 5.4% and $3,392.994 of “Small” $3, $5, $10, $20 and $50 denominations were actually issued (although a total of $9,070,386 worth were reissued). The latter bore no interest by circulating as money.
All Treasury Notes were made by Murray, Draper, Fairman, and Co. and are one-sided. The first two issues were signed by Timothy Matlock and Charles Biddle while the latter three were signed by Edward Fox and Samuel Clarke or alternately by F. W. McGeary and C. C. Biddle. According to National Archive records, some were countersigned by William White (first two issues), T. D. T. Tucker (last two issues) or Joseph Nourse (the Register on the last issue only).
The “Small Treasury Notes” of $3 - $50 were used to purchase goods and services by individuals, pay customs duties by merchants, and acted as cash reserves for banks, thus preventing them from being discounted. As a result, they became the first circulating currency issued by the United States.
All these series are extremely rare in any form, and nearly all of the few known are specimens, proofs, or remainders, with most canceled in some way. Fully signed, dated, numbered, and uncanceled notes are virtually non-existent with only a lone $3 note seen.

THE TREASURY NOTES OF THE WAR OF 1812

Act of February 24, 1815

$100 notes bore interest at 5.4%. Notes from $3 to $50 bore no interest.

100 Dollar note 50 Dollar note 20 Dollar note 10 Dollar note

5 Dollar note 3 Dollar note

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United States 5 Dollar Treasury Note 1815