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Nauvoo City Scrip, 14 July 1842
Source Note
Source Note
Nauvoo City Script, , Hancock Co., IL, 14 July 1842; printed notes with additions in handwriting of ; signatures of JS and ; two pages; Coin and Currency Collection, CHL.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
As mayor of , Illinois, JS signed hundreds of one-dollar notes issued by the city government. These notes, referred to as Nauvoo city scrip, were issued beginning in early 1842 in an effort to provide additional currency for the residents of Nauvoo. Scrip, or fractional paper currency, was frequently used by city governments throughout the during the nineteenth century, often in periods of financial panic or economic recession. It provided a circulating medium specific to a city, controlled by the city government and intended for payment of local taxes. As with other cities, Nauvoo’s scrip enabled local citizens to have currency during the difficult national economic climate after the panics of 1837 and 1839 and the closure of several banks in the region, including the State Bank of . Such scrip also helped alleviate the cash-poor situation of many western communities in the United States. The Nauvoo charter stipulated that the city council had the power “to appropriate and provide for the payment of the debt -[and]- expenses of the city.” Although the city council did not explicitly authorize the issuance of scrip through city ordinances, the city nevertheless issued it and made it redeemable by the city treasury.
While city scrip provided a useful circulating medium, it had to be carefully controlled; if too many notes were issued and then redeemed, it could deplete the city treasury. The use of the scrip also reduced the amount of specie, or coined money, collected by the , since many residents used city scrip to pay their taxes in place of specie. In 1842, city tax collector Lewis Robison collected $430.50 in city scrip and only $43.06 in specie, which was for taxes assessed in 1841.
Unable to collect the funds needed to back the notes, the city council passed an ordinance on 4 March 1843 prohibiting any further issuing of city scrip but allowing for the redemption of notes that had already been issued. After this ordinance was passed, the city treasurer began issuing handwritten treasury orders.
The earliest scrip in appears to have been issued in January 1842 and signed by in his role as mayor. Nauvoo city scrip was issued in one-dollar notes and was used by the city to pay the city government’s staff. created two printing plates for the one-dollar notes in January 1842. Although similar, each plate has a distinct style, with different borders and center images. Residents used the scrip to pay taxes and fines to the city and to purchase licenses. After his election as mayor of Nauvoo on 19 May 1842, JS assumed the responsibility of signing city scrip. On 25 May, city recorder collected unsigned scrip from Bennett and then spent the next day signing and presumably numbering and dating one hundred notes, which he then gave to JS to sign. JS signed the scrip between 25 and 31 May. On 31 May, JS transmitted the signed scrip to to use as city treasurer. JS signed additional notes of Nauvoo city scrip on or around 14 July, including the two one-dollar notes featured here.
Footnotes
- [1]
This form of currency issued by city governments is referred to as fractional currency because notes were usually issued in amounts ranging from ten cents to one dollar. Such scrip was commonplace, and nineteenth-century examples have been found for towns and cities from Pennsylvania to Georgia. Economist Richard Timberlake identified city governments as “one of the most usual sources of fractional currency.” He further noted that while most issues of scrip occurred in economically unstable periods—such as 1814–1817, 1837–1840, 1857–1858, and 1862–1864—examples of city-issued scrip could be found for nearly any year in the nineteenth century. (Timberlake, “Significance of Unaccounted Currencies,” 859–860; see also Muscalus, Illustrations of County Scrip, 4–23.)
Timberlake, Richard H. “The Significance of Unaccounted Currencies.” Journal of Economic History 41, no. 4 (Dec. 1981): 853–866.
Muscalus, John. Illustrations of County Scrip Issued in Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Bridgeport, PA: Historical Paper Money Research Institute, 1967.
- [2]
Timberlake described the issuing of scrip or notes by city or county governments as a “natural” development that allowed local governments to operate during periods of specie suspension or specie shortages. Later, during the Civil War, the federal government resorted to issuing fractional currency, or postage currency, due to inflation and specie shortages. (Timberlake, “Significance of Unaccounted Currencies,” 853–860.)
Timberlake, Richard H. “The Significance of Unaccounted Currencies.” Journal of Economic History 41, no. 4 (Dec. 1981): 853–866.
- [3]
Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840, square brackets in original.
- [4]
William Clayton, city treasurer in 1843, wrote to the city council warning that the treasury had only forty dollars left and asking for guidance on whether he should use the remaining money to redeem city scrip. (William Clayton, Nauvoo, IL, to Nauvoo City Council, Nauvoo, IL, 13 Jan. 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)
- [5]
- [6]
- [7]
The handwritten treasury orders used after March 1843 appear to have also been referred to as “city scrip.”
- [8]
- [9]
See William Clayton, Treasurer’s Report, 5 Nov. 1842, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.
- [10]
Ebenezer Robinson, Statement of Account, Nauvoo, IL, for City of Nauvoo, ca. 15 Jan. 1842, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.
- [11]
[James Sloan], Record of City Scrip, 27 May 1842, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.
Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.
- [12]
Nauvoo City Treasury Ledger, 1.
Nauvoo City Treasury Ledger, 1842–1845. Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.
- [13]
JS likely signed scrip with serial numbers 381–448 on 14 July 1842 and may have also signed additional notes. Robinson printed 500 copies of the city scrip in January 1842. Ultimately, 513 notes of Nauvoo city scrip bearing the signatures of either John C. Bennett or JS were issued. Few notes of Nauvoo city scrip are extant. When the scrip was redeemed for specie it was destroyed, usually by being burned. According to extant Nauvoo city records, at least 437 notes were destroyed by the city between 1843 and 1845. (Ebenezer Robinson, Statement of Account, Nauvoo, IL, for City of Nauvoo, ca. 15 Jan. 1842, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Nauvoo City Treasury Ledger, 1, 6, 8, 10, 14, 17, 20; “Account of City Scrip Destroyed by Mayor,” 18 Dec. 1843; “Account of Scrip Destroyed,” 12 Feb. 1844; “Scrip Destroyed,” 17 May 1844; “Scrip Destroyed,” 10 Oct. 1844, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)
Nauvoo City Treasury Ledger, 1842–1845. Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.
Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.
Editorial Note
One-dollar note, Nauvoo City Scrip, , Hancock Co., IL, 14 July 1842; printed form with additions in handwriting of ; signatures of JS and ; one page; Coin and Currency Collection, CHL.
Single leaf measuring 3⅛ × 8 inches (8 × 20 cm). The document was cut from a larger sheet, and the left and bottom edges of the recto are uneven. The text was printed using several different fonts, which are not reproduced in the standardized transcript. The lines on the form for serial numbers and dates are filled in.
| 1 | ONE DOLLAR. | , Ill. | 1 |
| No. 431 | July 14[t]h 1842 | ||
| This Certificate will be received, by the City of , as | |||
| one | ONE DOLLAR, | one | |
| dollar. | In Payment of Debts Due the Corporation; | dollar. | |
| and redeemed, by the CITY TREASURER, on demand, with | |||
| any monies in the TREASURY, not otherwise appropriated. | |||
| Joseph Smith Mayor. | |||
| 1 | Recorder. | 1 | |
| , stereotyper and pr[inter]. | |||
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
Signature of JS.
Signature of James Sloan.
- [1]
Stereotyping, a printing innovation that became popular in the United States in the 1820s, created metal plates of permanent type that could be used for reprinting, rather than requiring movable type to be reset. ([Saunders], Author’s Printing and Publishing Assistant, 22–23.)
[Saunders, Frederick]. The Author’s Printing and Publishing Assistant: Comprising Explanations of the Process of Printing, Preparation and Calculation of Manuscripts, Choice of Paper, Type, Binding, Illustrations, Publishing, Advertising, &c., with an Exemplification and Description of the Typographical Marks Used in the Correction of the Press. 4th ed. London: Saunders and Otley, 1842.