United States Ten Thousand Dollar Bill
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| Front of bill: U.S. Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase |
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| Back of bill: The Embarkation of the Pilgrims |
| Salmon P. Chase was President Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury
as the Civil War began. During his time in office he administered
the creation of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (later the Internal
Revenue Service) to raise money for the war, then the next year
administered the nation's first income tax. He also helped
establish the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to print the
Government's first currency (known as greenbacks, becuase of their
color - and because green was a hard color to reproduce at the time,
which helped deter counterfeiting.) Chase also served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court during the period of Reconstruction. Legal United States currency is printed in bills in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. Although they are still technically legal tender in the United States, the higher denomination $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 bills were last printed in 1945 and officially discontinued on July 14, 1969, by the Federal Reserve System. |