The Confederate States of America dollar was first issued just before the outbreak of the Civil War by the newly-formed Confederacy. It was not backed by hard assets, but simply by a promise to pay the bearer after the war, on the prospect of Southern victory and independence.
As the war began to tilt against the Confederates, confidence in this currency diminished, and inflation followed. By the end of 1864, the currency was practically worthless.
The Confederate Dollar (or "Greyback") remains a prized collector's item, in its many versions, including those issued by individual states and local banks. The various engravings of leading Confederates, Gods and Goddesses and scenes of slave-life, on these hastily-printed banknotes, sometimes cut with scissors and signed by clerks, continue to stimulate debate among antique dealers, with even some of the counterfeit notes commanding high prices.
Read more about Confederate States Of America Dollar: Background, Designs, Signatures, Coinage, Banknotes
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“Figure a man’s only good for one oath at a time. I took mine to the Confederate States of America.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“Figure a man’s only good for one oath at a time. I took mine to the Confederate States of America.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“Figure a man’s only good for one oath at a time. I took mine to the Confederate States of America.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“The line that I am urging as today’s conventional wisdom is not a denial of consciousness. It is often called, with more reason, a repudiation of mind. It is indeed a repudiation of mind as a second substance, over and above body. It can be described less harshly as an identification of mind with some of the faculties, states, and activities of the body. Mental states and events are a special subclass of the states and events of the human or animal body.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“Only in America ... do these peasants, our mothers, get their hair dyed platinum at the age of sixty, and walk up and down Collins Avenue in Florida in pedalpushers and mink stoles—and with opinions on every subject under the sun. It isn’t their fault they were given a gift like speech—look, if cows could talk, they would say things just as idiotic.”
—Philip Roth (b. 1933)
“Give a beggar a dime and he’ll bless you. Give him a dollar and he’ll curse you for witholding the rest of your fortune. Poverty is a bag with a hole at the bottom.”
—Anzia Yezierska (c. 1881–1970)