Interest-bearing notes were one form of currency issued by the Confederate
government. Inscribed on this example is the government's promise to
pay the bearer of
the note $100 plus interest (two cents per day) "Six Months after the
Ratification of a
Treaty of Peace between The ConfederateStates & The United States of
America." The
prospects for a negotiated peace or even military victory against the
North appeared
quite possible in 1862. By 1864 such hopes had faded. North
Carolinians and other
southerners knew that the Confederate government's financial
guarantees were empty
promises.
In the design of many Confederate and state currencies, the images of African-American slaves were often used. Invariably, however, black southerners were portrayed as content in their status, depicted as well-clothed laborers toiling in the fields or as smiling mothers cuddling their children. |
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