June 08, 2019 Saturday
Bedtime Story
Demand Notes of 1861
This new paper currency that the government
of the United States issued initially to fund the civil war was called Demand
Notes and could be redeemed for specie “on demand”.
But these Demand Notes were still not
declared to be legal tenders and the specie continued to be so.
There was one significant difference between
the Demand Notes issued by the United States government and the earlier paper
notes issued by private banks.
The paper notes that were printed by the
private banks before the Demand Notes had print only one side of it the rear
aspect being left blank.
The Demand Notes on the other hand were
printed on both the sides with the reverse side being printed in green ink and
hence the name “greenbacks”.
Under the authority of Congress given in
July of 1861 Demand Notes worth $50,000,000 (fifty million) were printed but
even this amount proved to be inadequate to meet the war expenses of the
government.
The expenses of the government kept on
mounting as it always does even in peaceful times but more so and devastatingly
so during war times.
On January 16 of 1862 when the nation was
in the midst of civil war President Abraham Lincoln held a private meeting with
Edmund Dick Taylor who was a pioneer of the coal industry in Illinois besides
so many other things.
Now this Edmund Dick Taylor is a
fascinating personality as he is a unique combination of a businessman, a
politician (which is not uncommon) but also that of a soldier and hence he
holds the title of Colonel.
Twice he had stood for the Illinois State
Legislative elections from Sangamon County (once in 1830 and other in 1832) and
both the times he had won.
Later president Andrew Jackson (the seventh
President of the United States after john Quincy Adams and who took on the
fight against rampant corruption that besieged the government) appointed him as
the Receiver of Public Moneys.
After his political career Taylor played
significant role in improving the transportation infrastructure of the state of
Illinois by building canals, railroads and which in history goes by the title
of “internal improvements.”
In fact most of the modern developed United
States that we all wish to immigrate into or would have our progenies grow up
into was fashioned by men like Edmund Dick Taylor in an era that was
accompanied with massive government investments into infrastructure that is known
as “internal improvements”.
“Internal improvements” includes all the
public works and a very broad category of infrastructure projects financed by
the government that was initiated after the end of the American Revolution but
more vigorously after the American Civil War and went on through the entire
nineteenth century.
Both the Illinois and the Michigan Canal
that connect the Great Lakes of the North with the Gulf of Mexico in the South
through the Mississippi River was the handiwork of Col. Edmund Dick Taylor.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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