The Dollar • Congress adopted

the dollar as the money unit of the United States in 1785.

Fun Fact: If you had 10

billion $1 bills and spent one every second of every day, it would take you 317 years to go broke.

The BEP• All U.S. currency is

produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which also designs, engraves, and prints items such as postage stamps.

Producing U.S. Currency

• All U.S. currency had been printed in Washington, D.C. since 1862

• To help meet increasing demand, a second printing facility was opened in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1991.

• Fort Worth now produces about half the nation's currency.

Bureau of Engraving & PrintingDC Facility (DCF)Washington, DC

Bureau of Engraving & PrintingWestern Currency Facility (WCF)

Fort Worth, TX

Fun Fact: If you laid out all

of the currency notes printed since 1929, they would stretch around the equator approximately 24 times.

The Federal Reserve Indicator

• Federal Reserve Banks release money to commercial banks as needed.

• The amount varies from season to season and week to week.

• The Federal Reserve System, established by Congress in 1913, issues Federal Reserve notes (bills) through its 12 Federal Reserve Districts. Every district has its main office in a major city. Each district is designated by a number and the corresponding letter of the alphabet, as shown on the next slide.

Currency Denominations

• Currently, Federal Reserve notes are printed and issued in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100.

Fun Fact:Average Life Span of $

$1 - 21 months

$5 - 16 months

$10 - 18 months

$20 - 24 months

$50 - 55 months

$100 - 89 months

Currency Denominations

• The $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 denominations have not been printed since 1946.

The largest denomination ever created was the $100,000 note.

How money circulates:1. The Treasury Department ships new paper money

and coins to the Federal Reserve Banks; 2. The Reserve Banks pay it out to commercial banks,

savings and loan associations, and other depository institutions.

3. Customers of these institutions withdraw cash as they need it. Once people spend their cash at department stores, grocery stores, and so on, most of this money is eventually redeposited in depository institutions.

4. As notes wear out or become dirty or damaged, depository institutions redeposit them at the Reserve Banks..

When money wears out:

• Banks send old, worn, torn, or soiled notes to a Federal Reserve Bank to be exchanged for new bills.

• They then shred the old money.

Security Measures

• Because U.S. currency is universally accepted and trusted, it is widely counterfeited.

• The U.S. Secret Service was created in 1865 to curtail counterfeiting.

Counterfeiting• Manufacturing counterfeit United States

currency or altering genuine currency to increase its value is a violation of Title 18, Section 471 of the United States Code and is punishable by a fine of up to $5,000, or 15 years imprisonment, or both.

• U.S. currency has traditionally had a number of features that deter counterfeiters.

• One is the cotton and linen rag paper, which has a distinctive, pliable feel and has tiny red and blue fibers embedded in it. Though a commercial company produces the paper, it is illegal for anyone to manufacture or use a similar type except by special authority.

• Inks manufactured according to secret formulas by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing also help prevent counterfeiting.

• To stay ahead of counterfeiters, the Treasury plans to introduce new designs every seven to ten years.

• Redesigned and existing notes will circulate at the same time, with the new notes replacing the older ones as they wear out.

• For security reasons each feature of a note—the portrait, vignette, ornaments, lettering, script, and scrollwork—is the work of a separate, specially trained engraver.

20th & 21st Century Security Measures

Security Thread

Watermark

Color Shifting Ink

Symbols of Freedom

Updated Portrait & Vignette

Microprinting

Low-Vision Feature

Color

Student Examples