Images on Banknotes: Creating a National Image

On the back of the 1914, $10 Federal Reserve note are two images. The left image presents an agrarian scene: three farmers, cultivating corn with the aid of a horse-drawn harvester. The left image is one of steep contrast: an industrial setting with factories billowing smoke from their stacks and train cars in the front. Both images fade into the center in a way that seems like they are pointing to the middle of the bill, which is empty of an image. But what are they pointing to? Why are these seemingly paradoxical images brought together on a piece of paper that held such wide circulation in the American populace?

This banknote is just one example of many during the years surrounding the changing of the 19th to 20th century in the United States. The symbols and images on American currency were more than pretty pictures. These notes were more than just forms of money; they in themselves signified wealth and ease. The images were a representation of the American dream enshrined on the physical manifestation of the American dream – money.

The images on American banknotes presented symbols of what the United States had been and what it would be. These images were educational tools brought about by the bankers, businessmen, politicians, and government officials placed on the item that the average American would see most in his or her daily routine. Not only was possible the most viewed set of images, but it was naturally the most scrutinized. People would pay very close attention to the images on their money, as this was the most liquid type of currency that the American had, and it in turn must match the ideals of America that the general populace had.

The images on American banknotes during the late 19th and early 20th century are now tools to scrutinize American sentiment at the time. The concerns and the goals of the American government are woven into a scenic tale presented by the currency, and a national identity that all of the people of the United States could share was created. Some examples of imagery on banknotes of the time will help weave a narrative of history during the time after the American Civil War and through the First World War.

IMAGES OF HISTORY

The United States was a new nation filled with political turmoil after the Civil War. The nation did not claim its independence from the British Empire until 1776, and just a century later, the young United States had just come out of a costly war between the North and South. What many banknotes provided was a sense that the United States was in fact, still united, and shared a common bond of history, despite the nation’s age.

For example, images of the pilgrims were abundant. The actual depiction of a pilgrim was extremely symbolic, but different notes showed Pilgrims in different scenes of their journey to and their actions upon arrival of the New World. Primarily the image of the Pilgrim showed idealistic caricatures of the separatists from England who were Christian, and who were the original forefathers of the nation – the original pioneers.

The pilgrim iconography on American paper money symbolizes what historian Jackson Lears explains as the two protestant ethics. The first was a never ending pursuit of a personal calling. This, in turn, “provided the psychological justification for the organizational spirit of rational capitalism.”1 The second ethic eroticized attitudes toward consumption, which provided momentary satisfaction, and then the return to a longing for more consumption.2 By placing pilgrims on money, it created a subliminal relationship between these Protestant ethics and the actual pieces of paper that was used for the consumption process.

However, in the specific images provided on banknotes, they provided even a greater significance for the unified states.

The reverse side of a 1902 $5 National Bank Note from Trenton, New Jersey, shows the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. The image shows a small landing vessel in stormy waters with the successful arrival on dry land. This image presents the strong, hearty, and stoic nature of the beginnings of a people who were ready to begin a new colony.

The image on the reverse side of the 1914 $10,000 Federal Reserve Note depicts the pilgrims on the Mayflower once they had laid anchor in Cape Cod Bay. The pilgrims are meeting aboard as conventus publicos propria authoritate, or a convention of the people under common law under extraordinary circumstances to establish a new government and constitution. The manuscript shown in the center of the image is the result of this convention, The Mayflower Compact.3

This type of convention was what brought about the Virginia Conventions of 1775 and 1776 which established the new Commonwealth of Colonies, the Declaration of Independence, and in adopting the United States Constitution in 1788. This image alone did more than invoke the image of a Frontier Christian who was independent of British Rule, but depicts the symbols of democracy, unity, and the rule of law.4

On the 1869-1878 Series $1 Silver Certificate, an engraving of the painting by artist T.A. Liebler entitled “The Introduction of the Old World to the New World,” or “Pocahontas Presented at Court,” is provided on the front of the bill. The image shows the historic meeting of Pocahontas and John Smith. The story that this image represents was extremely fabled and romanticized at the time, and it provided a definite avenue of representation that the title explains so well.5 The historic nature of this image was one that the United States under the civilized rule of the New American (or white men), and that this new world was the beginning of the United States that the populace knew at the time. They had overcome the Old World during colonialization, and this was part of their shared history.

IMAGES OF THE FRONTIER, FARMS, AND INDUSTRY

The industrial revolution in the United States created ripple affects that was felt from the burgeoning cities to the agrarian south and heartland and to the disappearing frontier. The Civil War had created a production based behemoth in the north, and eastern capital started going back from the farmland in the west to the industries in the east. Wheat and cotton prices spiraled, mortgaged farms were foreclosed on, and the pioneers and farmers “discovered for the first time in American history there was nowhere else to go.”6 The U.S. Census declared in 1892 that there was no longer a frontier, and if a farmer’s land was not foreclosed, he still found that he was going into the red.7

This, in fact was one of the key reasons that paper money became such an institution in the United States. The Populist Party, the incarnation of a multitude of farmer’s parties, wanted money to not just be based upon precious metals, since this gave only the select few control and a part of the money supply. Since currency was backed by precious metal (gold and sometimes silver), it was not liquid enough to get to farmers who lived in the middle of the Nebraska plains. They felt that creating a money supply that was elastic enough to expand when more money was needed and retract when the need was taken care of would benefit more in the United States than just gold. Initially, this plan was to base money on grain. This idea never came to fruition.8

However, the idea that money could be elastic was not necessarily a new one. The Greenback dollar (or Legal Tender Notes), was one that Secretary of Treasury Salmon P. Chase (under Abraham Lincoln) issued during the civil war in order to provide a paper currency that was legal for debts without wiping out American precious metal reserves. After the war, the value of a Greenback dollar was only worth half of a Gold dollar. These dollars are where the term “legal tender for all debts, public and private” originated, as they were written on every Legal Tender Note. The fear within the government was that this type of money could wreak havoc on the economy since it was only backed by the United States government, and not precious metals. However, proponents of this type of money said that it was inherent in the United States’ right of sovereignty to issue paper money not based on coinage (metal).9

In 1875, congress bound the government to redeem greenback dollars into coinage, and despite the doomsayers who said it would deplete precious metal reserves, the nation had grown on the Greenbacks, and it never happened.10 In fact, these notes were the predecessors to the Federal Reserve Notes that we have in circulation today.

The ideals of those who supported paper money as legal tender just as money that was pegged to precious metals are announced in the Greenback Party (another political party brought about by American’s interest in paper money) song:

Thou Greenback, ‘tis of thee
Fair money of the free
Of thee we sing.
And through all coming time
Great bards in every clime
Will sing with joyful glee
Gold is not king

Then smash old Shylock’s bonds,
With all his gold coupons,
The banks and the rings.
Monopolies must fail,
Rich paupers work in jail,
The right will then prevail,
Not money kings.11

Once the Legal Tender Note issue was settled, it was up to the Government and Banks to be able to show that the agrarian community and the industrial community could exist together, and that American currency backed both communities.

Much of the designs on the notes from this time period seem to sympathize with the frontiersman. Despite the rapid disappearance of any new frontier, these notes seemed to pay homage to the pioneer and free spirit of the American west at a time when many of these people felt disenfranchised.

The $5 Legal Tender Note Series of 1869-1907 shows on the front side a portrait of President Andrew Jackson, who was a popular Tennessee farmer and Militia General before he became the Commander-in-Chief. In the center of the front side is and image of a pioneer family. The man stands with an axe in his left hand over a pile of split wood, with a rifle leaning on a rock to his right. Behind him is his wife and small child, and the family dog is standing guard just in front. They are depicted in front of a log house, surrounded by forest. This depiction is a direct homage to the pioneer of the United States.

The 1901 $10 Legal Tender Note is another example of the homage the Government was paying to the frontier. The front of the note depicted an American Bison nicknamed ‘Pablo.’ By 1895, there were fewer than 1,000 bison left in the world, and the first attempts at setting up farms to prevent their extinction developed. The bison depicted was nicknamed Pablo after rancher Michael Pablo who set up his own bison herd after purchasing 13 bison calves from a Native American.12

James Earle Fraser, the man who designed the Buffalo Nickel, said about his search to find something that represented the United States and its history that “he found no motif within the bounties of the United States so distinctive as the American Buffalo.”13

Also on the front are images of both Louis & Clark, the famed frontiersman who journeyed to the Pacific to explore the American West, but they were also included to garner interest in the upcoming 1905 Louis & Clark Centennial Exposition.14 The back of the bank note shows an illustrious Lady Liberty surrounded corn stalks, illustrating the freedom’s continued need for and reliance on the agrarian community.

The leaning of acceptance to put more industrialized images on banknotes began with the first Federal Reserve Notes of 1914. Much of this reflects the times. Motor Cars were beginning to gain acceptance with the ever popular Model T Ford and the outlook of a nation expanding not only with internal industry, but worldwide. The Spanish-American War and the struggles around it roughly two decades prior had given a taste of expansion in spheres of influences in places like the Gulf of Mexico and the Philippines. The nation was trying to keep pace with a very temperamental Europe in technology, which ever increased the need and acceptance of the Industrialized United States. The federal reserve notes were also a result of The Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which would establish the Federal Reserve System in order to control an elastic supply of money to a growing economy plagued by bank failures.15

The 1914 $20 Federal Reserve Note depicted President Grover Cleveland on the front and on the back were two images, on the left, a train followed by an automobile, and on the left, a cruise ship and a tugboat with New York City in the back. Here are two interesting motifs. First, the car and the train are demonstrating personal expansion with industrial expansion. Now, people are able to drive outside of their typical domain in the newly accessible invention of the automobile, much like industry has been able to expand across the continent by rail.

For the image on the left, there are two possibilities. First, with the influx of immigrants, this is a way for new Americans to realize their history. The new arrivals can see on their new money that they now share a common bond recognized on their currency with those that have lived in the United States through generations. Their identity as new Americans is solidified through the images on the money they use.

The other possible explanation is that this is actually a cruise-liner, which illustrates the wealth and possibility of leisure and travel of many Americans at the time. This icon, the massive cruise-ship, also coincides with the travel them opposite it depicted in the car alongside a train.

The back of the $50 Federal Reserve Note of 1914 depicts another side to the expansion of the United States and her influence in the world. In the middle of the picture is a feminine image of Panama surrounded by the natural greenery and palm trees of the tropics. On the right is an American battleship traveling in the Panama Canal, and on the right is an American freightliner traveling through the canal. This imagery boasts the engineering capabilities of the United States, the only nation to successfully complete the building of the canal after several previous attempts by other nations, and demonstrates the power of the United States regarding the control of sea lanes and maritime travel. The Panama Canal opened the year that this bill was issued, and Americans were able to see the power and progress of their nation on their currency as it happened.

The front shows Northern Civil War general and president Ulysses S. Grant, homage to the strength of the North and the necessity of the Unity in the States as it continued to develop. The depiction of only leaders from the Northern side of the Civil War was interesting in how it tried to help develop a national, more ‘northern ideal’ identity for the nation. The progress of the nation on the reverse was tied to the successes of the North by its depiction of Northern leaders on the front.

The 1914 $10 Federal Reserve note was described earlier, one with three farmers cultivating corn with four horses pulling a harvester. The right image is that of factories with a train yard in front. Both images fade together toward the middle, both almost pointing to each other, as if to say that both are the future and both depend on each other. These are seemingly paradoxical images, but they both offer up to the populace the present and the future of the country, one in which everyone has a part. Farmers are legitimized in the agrarian scene and industrialists and city laborers legitimized in the factory and industry scene. Both are drawn in a way that the viewer’s eyes become centralized, blending the two together.

Another interesting depiction on the early Federal Reserve Note Series is on the 1918 $2 note. The front, like the more recent $2 bill, has the image of President Thomas Jefferson, with the added design and inscription of the bank that issued the note. The back, however demonstrates the power in the American military and the strength of the American Navy, in particular, during the First World War. The image of a modern American battleship was displayed steaming full speed ahead. This image was significant not only in demonstrating the United State’s abilities, but was also significant because in 1918 – at the time of printing – a total of eight American battleships were serving in British waters.16 This image not only brought about patriotism and pride in the Armed Services, but was a reminder of the Americans who were currently in the service, instead of those who served in earlier times. Other bank note depicted Union heroes from the Civil War and scenes of battles from the American Revolution.

IMAGES ON THE EDUCATIONAL SERIES

In 1886, congress gave the U.S. Treasury the task of creating a series of silver certificates; the Secretary of the Treasury gave the task of designing the notes to Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The bureau chief, Claude M. Johnson, felt that art was an important aspect for currency. He felt that muralists could create new images for the notes that could be unprecedented in beauty, so that each piece of money was a piece of artwork for the person who held it. Not only that, he wanted images that were relevant to the nation at the time. He commissioned three artists to design the new certificates.17

William H. Low’s mural was selected for the design of the 1896 $1 Silver Certificate. The image depicts a feminine image of History with her arms around a young pupil, with her left hand pointing towards Washington, D.C. Aptly titled History Instructing Youth, this bank note demonstrates that History is teaching the youth of America about what the nation is all about: its historical identity. In the background, the image shows the Potomac River, the Washington Monument, and the Capitol Building. On the right side of the image is an open book of the Constitution of the United States. On the perimeter of the image, there are 23 wreaths, each wrapped around the names of significant Americans, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Ben Franklin. The forefathers are not the only ones mentioned, however. Other notable Americans like Henry Longfellow, Robert Fulton, and Nathaniel Hawthorne are also surrounded by the wreaths.

The back of the note shows America’s father and mother, George and Martha Washington. This was one of only a couple of banknotes that portrays Martha Washington, and she is the only female besides Pocahontas (leaving the mythological and allegorical figures out) to be depicted on an American Banknote.

This silver certificate holds strong resonance for the importance of the time period. As previously mentioned, the turn of the century was a time of unrest between the different areas of the nation in developing a shared identity and history. The image on the front of the note was important because it demonstrated that the young nation did have a history, and that they youth of the nation must learn what the country had accomplished. The importance of the Constitution, the imagery of the monuments and buildings of Washington, D.C., and the important historical figures that the nation had brought forth were of vital importance in recognizing the identity of the nation.

The 1896 $2 Silver Certificate is another allegorical representation of the continuously developing nation. The design was by Edwin H. Bashfield, and it was entitled Science Presenting Steam and Electricity to Commerce and Manufacture. In the design, Science is the central, matriarchal image. She is presenting the youthful Electricity, who is holding a coil of copper wire wound around an electromagnet, and the slightly older Steam, who is holding a lever to a steam engine. The mature Commerce and Manufacture sit with their faces toward Science and her two young charges.

The back of the $2 Silver Certificate shows Robert Fulton on the left, the inventor of the steam engine, and Samuel F.B. Morse on the right, inventor of the telegraph. This is the only banknote known to have strictly ignored generals or politicians, and instead have scientists and inventors as its subject of tribute.

The allegorical figures of Commerce and Manufacture are displayed as mature young females, creating the imagery that these have been born with nation, and matured just as well. However, the harnessing of electricity and the earlier harnessing of steam power – modern productions of Science – can only help the nation. Electricity and Steam, the image suggests, are part of the same national identity of Commerce and Manufacture, or the American way of production and trade – capitalism.

The last of the ‘Educational Series’ to be circulated was the 1896 $5 Silver Certificate. This note is entitled Electricity Presenting Light to the World, and is extremely ornate in its design, with imagery that invokes pride, patriotism, and strength in the abilities of the United States and extremely Ameri-centric in its presentation of the development of technology.

In the center, a winged female Electricity holds an electric lamp over the United States (the actual lettering). On the left, Jupiter holds the lightning which powers the lamp in one hand while holding reigns of lightning for his chariot’s horses. Fame sits below Electricity, with a trumpet heralding her accomplishments to the world, while a bald eagle stands watchful guard over the Western Hemisphere of the globe. To the right of the eagle sentry is peace, her hand raised beside a dove. In the background stands the solid and seemingly ageless Capitol Building.

The back of the bill holds a picture of Union General/President Ulysses S. Grant on the left, and Union General Phillip Sheridan, with a winged and shielded face of Lady Liberty in the center. The continual use of Northern Generals on bank notes was also symbolic of the still deeply held sentiments about the Civil War.

In 1896, The New York Times lauded this new design of the banknote. “The arrangement of this composition , the grace of pose in each figure, and the idea connected with the designs of this artist entitle it to a place beside the finest allegorical designs in the world.”18 The Times article also references that there were plans for other allegorical banknotes such as these, including one of war and peace, one of civilization by discovery, one of education and labor, and one of agriculture and forestry.19 They never came to fruition, as the designs were unpopular with banks, and the desire by later administrations to keep a more simple, unified currency design.

CONCLUSION

American banknotes after the Civil War to the First World War hold images that are representations what the developing American Identity was. The designers of the currency had to create a basis of a shared history for a people that was split between the agrarian southerners who were alienated after the Civil War, the northerners who were increasingly industrial, the frontiersmen of the west who were losing their frontier, and the youth who were growing up in a culture that was in an identity crisis.

Images creating identity went from agricultural to industrial and signified the accomplishments of the young nation in a way that the populace could truly say that these achievements were their own. The images had to increase faith in the currency, yes, but the most important aspect of the imagery was the cultural revolution that was developing and represented in the currency. The tale woven by the images presented on the nation’s currency gives one that harbors the past – that of the pilgrims, founding fathers, the frontiersman – but also of the future. The future that was presented as a developing national identity was strong, with an economy base on agrarian and industrial commerce, and just like the 1914 $10 Federal Reserve Note depicts, where the two did not contradict each other.

ENDNOTES

1 Lears: Jackson Lears, Fables of Abundance. (New York: BasicBooks, 1994) pg. 46

2 Lears: pg. 47

3 Graham: John Remington Graham, Blood Money: The Civil War and the Federal Reserve. (Louisiana: Pelican Publishing, 2006) pg. 62

4 Graham: pgs. 62-63

5 Federal Reserve Bank: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco American Currency Exhibit (sf.frb.org) accessed Dec. 1, 2006.

6 Goodwin: Jason Goodwin, Greenback. (New York: Henry Hold & Company) pg. 172

7 Goodwin: Pg. 172

8 Goodwin:Pg. 273

9 Goodwin: Pg. 256

10 Goodwin: 258

11 Goodwin: 257

12 Nation Bison Association: National Bison Association Home. (bisoncentral.com) accessed Dec 4, 2006.

13 Dary: David A. Dary. The Buffalo Book; The Full Saga Of The American Animal (Ohio: Swallow Press/Ohio University press, 1989) pg. 279

14 Federal Reserve Bank

15 Graham: pg. 45

16 Muir: Malcolm Muir, Jr. "Battleships" The Oxford Companion to American Military History. John Whiteclay Chambers II, ed., Oxford University Press 1999. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Miami University - Ohio. 9 December 2006 (oxfordreference.com)

17 Hessler: Gene Hessler, U.S. Essay Proof & Specimen Notes (New York: Banner Press, 1979) pg. 76

18 Times: New York Times. New Silver Certificates. pg. 25. Proquest Historical Newspapers – The New York Times 1851-2003. Accessed 9 December (umi.com)

19 Times: pg. 25