Before the Civil War, there were 8,000 different kinds of money in the United States.
Banks printed their own paper money. And, unlike today, a $1 bill wasn't always worth $1. Sometimes people took the bills at face value. Sometimes they accepted them at a discount (a $1 bill might only be worth 90 cents, say.) Sometimes people rejected certain bills altogether.
On today's show, we figure out how this world worked. And explain how the Civil War — and the Union's need for money — changed everything.
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