It remains to be seen what sort of changes will take place with the design of the legal tender notes. currency has undergone tremendous change throughout its history, much like the country itself. In 2003, more colors were added along with more advanced anti-counterfeiting technology.ДЄs was the case two centuries earlier, the design of the dollar was primarily - but not exclusively - determined by the desire to prevent counterfeiting, not by aesthetic concerns. And in 1996, in an attempt to improve anti-counterfeiting measures, the federal government redesigned five of the six remaining denominations. The phrase вЂњIn God We TrustвЂќ was added in the 1950s amid a larger discussion about the role of God in American life. The main designs changed little over the years, with a few noteworthy exceptions. For example, a $5 note from 1914 featured Abraham Lincoln on the front, and the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock on the back. The front of these notes usually featured presidents while the back captured iconic Americana. The rough proportions, the typeface, the intricate borders, the color green, even some of the wording - all of those components were in use before the Federal Reserve Note was born. dollars) as legal tender.Д«ut by that point, many of the design elements now recognizable from the American dollar were already set. The law gave the federal government the authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes (commonly known as U.S.

It wasnвЂ™t until 1913 that the Federal Reserve Act created the surviving modern form of currency. (Gold certificates were also issued, as William Sumner Graham points out in his History of American Currency, although they were not as common as silver certificates.) These bills were backed by actual silver, and were released as the nation was locked in a debate over how best to deal with precious metal and bank notes for the good of the economy. The $5 note from 1899 highlights the Hunkpapa leader Running Antelope, while others, such as the 1896 series, celebrate electricity and steam power. The $1 silver certificate issued in 1896 showed her too, as the front featured the likeness of вЂњHistory instructing YouthвЂќ by pointing towards Washington D.C., and both George and Martha Washington on the back of the bill. banknote to feature a woman on the front, in the form of Martha Washington. These silver certificates included the first and only U.S. So, when the reverse side of the new money was printed with it, the bills earned the nickname вЂњgreenbacks.вЂќ The design on the front varied, but portrayed figures still seen on American money today, such as Alexander Hamilton and Abraham Lincoln.ДЇollowing the Civil War, greenbacks continued to be commonly used, while Congress in the 1870s and вЂ80s directed the production of five different issues of silver certificates, ranging from $1 to $1,000 dollar notes.

The chemical used to make that ink rendered it green. One of those measures involved the use of a recently developed technology: ink that guarded against another relatively recent technology, photographic copying. The Union responded in kind by issuing its own version, which featured similar designs to the modern currency found in wallets today, including many inventive anti-counterfeiting measures. Benjamin FranklinвЂ™s own printing firm attempted to countervail counterfeiters by adding nature prints such as leaves to the notes in an attempt to create a unique design that couldnвЂ™t easily be copied. (The вЂњEye of ProvidenceвЂќ was added to the top later.) Importantly, many of the bills were designed specifically to address a larger economic problem at hand: depreciation and economic warfare in the form of counterfeiting by the British. The unfinished pyramid with 13 steps representing the 13 colonies, now recognizable from the Great Seal of the United States, was part of the design of one bill. The actual design of this new continental currency was a far cry from the modern look of American paper money, but already carried familiar motifs. As the Revolutionary War ramped up, in 1775 the Continental Congress issued the first overarching colonial currency, known as Continentals.

These вЂњbills of creditвЂќ created friction between the colonies and Great Britain, resulting in the Currency Acts of 17, which curtailed those billsвЂ™ designation as legal tender. In 1690, Massachusetts became the first colony to issue its own paper money, and soon other colonies followed suit.

Dollar bill