U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for February 25: Legal Tender

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

LEGAL TENDER

Profile America — Saturday, February 25th. Paper money has circulated in North America since 1690, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony issued some to paper over — so to speak — the shortage of coins. But these were just promissory notes from governing bodies. That changed on this date in 1862 when Congress passed the Legal Tender Act, fixing paper money as a means of paying the government's considerable Civil War bills with something other than gold or silver. One result was that greenbacks became a means of exchange for all private transactions. Currently, there is close to $1.5 trillion in cash circulating the country and the world. A good portion passes through America's roughly 117 million households, which earn a median annual income of about $53,500. You can find more facts about America's people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey, at www.census.gov.

Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, p. 841
Currency in circulation/accessed 12/8/2016: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CURRCIR 
Legal Tender Ac/accessed 12/8/2016: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=012/llsl012.db&recNum=0376 
Households: http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_5YR/S1101 
Household median earnings: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/00

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics and accounts drawn from cited non-Census sources are employed for illustrative or narrative purposes, and are not attested to by the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu). 

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-census-bureau-daily-feature-for-february-25-legal-tender-300410630.html

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau