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Selection of Confederate Nationals
Confederate States One Hundred-Dollar Note
Written date "Dec. 11th, 1862."
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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