How patriotic were bankers during the time of the Civil War?

DennisTate · Jun 5, 2019

Judging from how much interest they wanted to earn on the loans to finance the war...... it is looking to me like the USA banking class of a century and a half ago don't seem to have been very patriotic?

Could it have been because they had traveled to Europe and perhaps liked some nations of Europe better in some ways than life in the USA????

https://www.michaeljournal.org/articles/politics/item/abraham-lincoln-and-john-f-kennedy

Abraham Lincoln
During the Civil War (1861-1865), President Lincoln needed money to finance the War from the North. The Bankers were going to charge him 24% to 36% interest. Lincoln was horrified and went away greatly distressed, for he was a man of principle and would not think of plunging his beloved country into a debt that the country would find impossible to pay back.

Eventually President Lincoln was advised to get Congress to pass a law authorizing the printing of full legal tender Treasury notes to pay for the War effort. Lincoln recognized the great benefits of this issue. At one point 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 Treasury notes were printed with green ink on the back, so the people called them “Greenbacks”.

Lincoln printed 400 million dollars worth of Greenbacks (the exact amount being $449,338,902), money that he delegated to be created, a debt-free and interest-free money to finance the War. It served as legal tender for all debts, public and private. He printed it, paid it to the soldiers, to the U.S. Civil Service employees, and bought supplies for war.
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In 1972, the United States Treasury Department was asked to compute the amount of interest that would have been paid if that 400 million dollars would have been borrowed at interest instead of being issued by Abraham Lincoln. They did some computations, and a few weeks later, the United States Treasury Department said the United States Government saved 4 billion dollars in interest because Lincoln had created his own money. So you can about imagine how much the Government has paid and how much we owe solely on the basis of interest.
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How patriotic were bankers during the time of the Civil War?

How patriotic was the USA banking class back during the time of the Civil War?

Not very patriotic.

Very patriotic.....

Less patriotic than Americans who had NOT traveled to other nations.

Downright selfish and greedy and terribly lacking in love for other Americans.

DennisTate Well-Known Member Past Donor

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Log in or Sign up

How patriotic were bankers during the time of the Civil War?

How patriotic was the USA banking class back during the time of the Civil War?

Not very patriotic.

Very patriotic.....

Less patriotic than Americans who had NOT traveled to other nations.

Downright selfish and greedy and terribly lacking in love for other Americans.

DennisTate Well-Known Member Past Donor

Share This Page

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