''History Instructing Youth'' is a series 1896

United States one-dollar bill The United States one-dollar bill (US$1), sometimes referred to as a single, has been the lowest value Denomination (currency), denomination of United States dollar, United States paper currency since the discontinuation of U.S. fractional cu ...

. It was one of three notes in the US

Bureau of Engraving and Printing The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) is a government agency within the United States Department of the Treasury that designs and produces a variety of security products for the Federal Government of the United States, United States governm ...

's (BEP) Educational Series. After many complaints about the notes in the series, the BEP replaced them in 1899. Today, it is considered one of the most beautiful and popular US large-size notes. The scene on the note's obverse is

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughou ...

and features a woman who is instructing a young boy about United States history.

Description

The obverse of the note features the names of 23 people within wreaths around the border. The notables listed include statesmen (

John C. Calhoun John Caldwell Calhoun (; March 18, 1782March 31, 1850) was an American statesman and political theorist who served as the seventh vice president of the United States from 1825 to 1832. Born in South Carolina, he adamantly defended American s ...

Henry Clay Henry Clay (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate, U.S. Senate and United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. He was the seventh Spea ...

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 dur ...

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American statesman, jurist, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth chief justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remai ...

Daniel Webster Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the 14th and 19th United States Secretary of State, U.S. secretary o ...

George Bancroft George Bancroft (October 3, 1800 – January 17, 1891) was an American historian, statesman and Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician who was prominent in promoting secondary education both in his home state of Massachusetts ...

), military figures (

Oliver Hazard Perry Oliver Hazard Perry (August 23, 1785 – August 23, 1819) was a United States Navy officer from South Kingstown, Rhode Island. A prominent member of the Perry family naval dynasty, he was the son of Sarah Wallace Alexander and Captain Christo ...

William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a General officer, general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), earning recognit ...

David Farragut David Glasgow Farragut (; also spelled Glascoe; July 5, 1801 – August 14, 1870) was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first Rear admiral (United States), rear admiral, Vice admiral (United State ...

), writers (

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He wrote the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy ...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonial and indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...

) and inventors (

Robert Fulton Robert Fulton (November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815) was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the world's first commercially successful steamboat, the (also known as ''Clermont''). In 1807, that steamboat ...

Samuel Morse Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After establishing his reputation as a portrait painter, Morse, in his middle age, contributed to the invention of a Electrical telegraph#Morse ...

). The

Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father of the United States, victorious commander-in-chief of the Continen ...

and the U.S. Capitol building are visible on the obverse. The allegorical scene on the obverse of the ''History Instructing Youth'' note portrays a woman (''History'') instructing a young boy (''Youth'') about United States history. The woman is on the left of the obverse and the boy is to her left. The $1 certificate's theme focused on the past and the two other denominations in the Educational Series, the $2 and $5, featured national progress and technology. History is reclining on a marble block and she is pointing at a book while the boy looks on. The American flag is laid across her lap and her head is adorned with a

laurel wreath A laurel wreath is a symbol of triumph, a wreath (attire), wreath made of connected branches and leaves of the bay laurel (), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen. It was also later made from spineless butcher's broom (''Ruscus hypoglossum'') or cher ...

. Each bottom corner of the note's obverse has an illustration of an open book. The note states, "This certifies that there has been deposited in the Treasury of the United States one silver dollar, payable to bearer on demand. To the right on the obverse, there is a red seal. The reverse features two allegorical winged figures and portraits of the first US president

and his wife

Martha Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 2, 1731 Old Style, O.S. – May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, who was the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, she served as the ...

. Large-note varieties of US currency were often referred to as "Horse Blankets". The 1896 large-size ''History Instructing Youth'' measured by . In 1928 the United States transitioned to small-size notes which measured by .

History

The obverse of the note was designed by

Will Hicok Low Will Hicok Low (May 31, 1853November 27, 1932) or Will Hicock Low was an American artist, muralist, and writer on art. Early life Low was born in Albany, New York. In 1873 he entered the atelier of Jean-Léon Gérôme in the École des Beaux ...

and it was called ''History Instructing Youth''. The design of the bill was accepted on July 10, 1894, and printing began on April 18, 1896. The engraving for the obverse of the one-dollar ''History Instructing Youth'' note was done by

Charles Schlecht Charles Schlecht (1843-1905) was an engraver at the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing. He did the engraving for the 1896 Educational Series one-dollar bill: History Instructing Youth. Early life He was born in Stuttgart Germany on June 11, 1 ...

. Schlecht began work on the engraving for the obverse in August 1892 and completed his work on January 1, 1895. The design of the reverse was executed by Thomas F. Morris. The reverse featured complex lathework and winged figures in the upper corners. The reverse also features two portraits which were completed earlier. In 1878, Charles Burt engraved the portrait of Martha and in 1867 Alfred Sealey engraved the portrait of George. The depiction of Martha Washington on the silver certificate was the last time a woman appeared on United States paper money. The one dollar note was part of a series known as the Educational Series and it included a redesigned one, two, five and ten-dollar bill. The US

produced fifteen separate plates for the production of the note. For the first time, the BEP chose to forgo lathework on the obverse to give designers a larger area to incorporate their design. The note became popular among collectors for its beauty. In their guide book to American paper money, Arthur and Ira Friedberg state that ''History Instructing Youth'' is the famous note in the series and " rhaps the most popular large-size note". ''History Instructing Youth'', along with the other notes of the Educational Series, are "considered to be among the most beautiful American notes ever printed", according to curator Ellen R. Feingold . The note was ranked number seven in the ''100 Greatest American Currency Notes'' book by David M. Sundman and Q. David Bowers.

Controversy

The Educational Series came to be called "dirty dollars" because of objections towards the portrayal of unclothed women on notes. Due to this early controversy, the BEP reissued notes in 1897 with more clothing on the women. Another complaint centered on the skin color of the women on the notes. The lack of complicated lathework on the obverse meant that counterfeiters could potentially forge them more easily. In 1899, the controversies caused the BEP to replace the series just three years after issue.

References

{{Portal bar, Money, Numismatics, United States Currencies introduced in 1896 Paper money of the United States Silver One-base-unit banknotes *001 George Washington on United States currency United States Capitol on currency