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Blue jay
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For other uses, see Blue jay (disambiguation).
Blue jay
In Algonquin Provincial Park, Canada
Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Corvidae
Genus: Cyanocitta
Species: C. cristata
Binomial name
Cyanocitta cristata
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Subspecies
4 sspp., see text
Global range
Breeding range Year-round range Wintering rangeSee also text for recent range expansion.
The blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to North America. It is resident through most of eastern and central United States, although western populations may be migratory. Resident populations are also found in Newfoundland, Canada, while breeding populations can be found in southern Canada. It breeds in both deciduous and coniferous forests, and is common near and in residential areas. It is predominantly blue with a white chest and underparts, and a blue crest. It has a black, U-shaped collar around its neck and a black border behind the crest. Sexes are similar in size and plumage, and plumage does not vary throughout the year. Four subspecies of the blue jay are recognized.
The blue jay mainly feeds on nuts and seeds such as acorns, soft fruits, arthropods, and occasionally small vertebrates. It typically gleans food from trees, shrubs, and the ground, though it sometimes hawks insects from the air. Like squirrels, blue jays are known to hide nuts for later consumption.[2] It builds an open cup nest in the branches of a tree, which both sexes participate in constructing. The clutch can contain two to seven eggs, which are blueish or light brown with brown spots. Young are altricial, and are brooded by the female for 8–12 days after hatching. They may remain with their parents for one to two months.
The bird's name derives from its noisy, garrulous nature.[3] It is sometimes called a "jaybird".[4]
Contents
[hide]
1 Taxonomy
2 Description
3 Distribution and habitat
4 Subspecies
5 Behavior
6 Diet
7 Reproduction
8 Vocalizations
9 Cultural depiction and interpretation
10 Provincial bird
11 References
12 Further reading
13 External links
Taxonomy[edit]
The blue jay was first described as Pica glandaria cærulea cristata in English naturalist Mark Catesby's 1731 publication of Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahamas.[5] It was later described as Corvus cristatus in Carl Linnaeus' 1758 edition of Systema Naturae.[6] In the 19th century, the jay was described by French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1838 as Cyanocorax cristatus in A geographical and comparative list of the birds of Europe and North America,[7] and given its modern scientific name Cyanocitta cristata by Hugh Edwin Strickland in 1845.[8] The genus name Cyanocitta derives from the Greek words 'kyaneos' (blue) and the 'kitta' and 'kissa' (chattering bird, jay), and the term 'blue chatterer' refers to the bright blue plumage of the head, nape, back, and tail of the bird. The specific name cristata (crested, tufted) derives from Latin referring to the prominent blue crest of the jay.[9]
Description[edit]
The blue jay measures 22–30 cm (9–12 in) from bill to tail and weighs 70–100 g (2.5–3.5 oz), with a wingspan of 34–43 cm (13–17 in).[10][11] Jays from Connecticut averaged 92.4 g (3.26 oz) in mass, while jays from southern Florida averaged 73.7 g (2.60 oz).[12][13] There is a pronounced crest on the head, a crown of feathers, which may be raised or lowered according to the bird's mood. When excited or aggressive, the crest will be fully raised. When frightened, the crest bristles outwards, brushlike. When the bird is feeding among other jays or resting, the crest is flattened on the head.[14]
Its plumage is lavender-blue to mid-blue in the crest, back, wings, and tail, and its face is white. The underside is off-white and the neck is collared with black which extends to the sides of the head. The wing primaries and tail are strongly barred with black, sky-blue and white. The bill, legs, and eyes are all black. Males and females are almost identical, but the male is slightly larger.[11][15]
As with most other blue-hued birds, the blue jay's colouration is not derived from pigments but is the result of light interference due to the internal structure of the feathers;[16] if a blue feather is crushed, the blue disappears because the structure is destroyed.[10] This is referred to as structural colouration.
Distribution and habitat[edit]
The blue jay occurs from southern Canada through the eastern and central United States south to Florida and northeastern Texas. The western edge of the range stops where the arid pine forest and scrub habitat of the closely related Steller's jay (C. stelleri) begins. Recently, the range of the blue jay has extended northwestwards so that it is now a rare but regularly seen winter visitor along the northern US and southern Canadian Pacific Coast.[10] As the two species' ranges now overlap, C. cristata may sometimes hybridize with Steller's jay.[17] The increase in trees throughout the Great Plains during the past century due to fire suppression and tree planting facilitated the western range expansion of the blue jay[18][19] as well as range expansions of many other species of birds.[20][21][22]
The northernmost subspecies C. c. bromia is migratory, subject to necessity. It may withdraw several hundred kilometres south in the northernmost parts of its range. Thousands of blue jays have been observed to migrate in flocks along the Great Lakes and Atlantic coasts. It migrates during the daytime, in loose flocks of 5 to 250 birds. Much about their migratory behavior remains a mystery. Some are present throughout winter in all parts of their range. Young jays may be more likely to migrate than adults, but many adults also migrate. Some individual jays migrate south one year, stay north the next winter, and then migrate south again the next year. To date, no one has concretely worked out why they migrate when they do. Likely, it is related to weather conditions and how abundant the winter food sources are, which can determine whether other northern birds will move south.[23]
The blue jay occupies a variety of habitats within its large range, from the pine woods of Florida to the spruce-fir forests of northern Ontario. It is less abundant in denser forests, preferring mixed woodlands with oaks and beeches.[14] It has expertly adapted to human activity, occurring in parks and residential areas, and can adapt to wholesale deforestation with relative ease if human activity creates other means for the jays to get by.[24]
Subspecies[edit]
Four subspecies are generally accepted, though the variation within this species is rather subtle and essentially clinal. No firm boundaries can be drawn between the inland subspecies. The ranges of the coastal races are better delimited.[15]
Cyanocitta cristata bromia – Northern blue jay
Canada and northern United States. The largest subspecies, with fairly dull plumage. Blue is rather pale.
Cyanocitta cristata cristata – Coastal blue jay
Coastal USA from North Carolina to Texas, except southern Florida. Mid-sized and vivid blue.
Cyanocitta cristata cyanotephra – Interior blue jay
Inland USA, intergrading with C. c. bromia to the north. Mid-sized, quite dark blue on mantle contrasting cleanly with very white underside.
Cyanocitta cristata semplei – Florida blue jay
Southern Florida. The smallest subspecies, much like C. c. bromia in colour.
Cyanocitta cristata cristata in Johnston County, North Carolina
C. c. cristata in Ash, North Carolina
C. c. cyanotephra in DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, Iowa
C. c. semplei, a small form, in Collier County, Florida
C. c. bromia in Muskoka Lakes, Ontario
C. c. bromia, Northern blue jay, juvenile, in Ontario, Canada
C. c. bromia, Northern blue jay in Ontario, Canada
Behavior[edit]
Merlin chasing a blue jay
The blue jay is a noisy, bold and aggressive passerine. It is a moderately slow flier (roughly 32–40 km/h (20–25 mph)) when unprovoked.[25] It flies with body and tail held level, with slow wing beats. Due to its slow flying speeds, this species makes easy prey for hawks and owls when flying in open areas. Virtually all the raptorial birds sympatric in distribution with the blue jay may prey upon it, especially swift bird-hunting specialists such as the Accipiter hawks. Diverse predators may prey on jay eggs and young up to their fledging stage, including tree squirrels, snakes, cats, crows, raccoons, opossums, other jays and possibly many of the same birds of prey who attack adults.[26]
The blue jay can be beneficial to other bird species, as it may chase predatory birds, such as hawks and owls, and will scream if it sees a predator within its territory. It has also been known to sound an alarm call when hawks or other dangers are near, and smaller birds often recognize this call and hide themselves away accordingly. It may occasionally impersonate the calls of raptors, especially those of the red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks, possibly to test if a hawk is in the vicinity, though also possibly to scare off other birds that may compete for food sources.[23] It may also be aggressive towards humans who come close to its nest, and if an owl roosts near the nest during the daytime the blue jay mobs it until it takes a new roost. However, blue jays have also been known to attack or kill other smaller birds and sleeping, foliage-roosting bat species such as Lasiurus borealis.[27] Jays are very territorial birds, and they will chase others from a feeder for an easier meal. Additionally, the blue jay may raid other birds' nests, stealing eggs, chicks, and nests. However, this may not be as common as is typically thought, as only 1% of food matter in one study was bird material.[23] Despite this, other passerines may still mob jays who come within their breeding territories.
Blue jay in flight
Blue jays, like other corvids, are highly curious and are considered intelligent birds. Young individuals playfully snatch brightly coloured or reflective objects, such as bottle caps or pieces of aluminum foil, and carry them around until they lose interest.[27] While not confirmed to have engaged in tool use in the wild, blue jays in captivity have been observed using strips of newspaper as tools to obtain food,[23][28] while captive fledglings have been observed attempting to open the door to their cages.[29]
Diet[edit]
Whole peanuts and other shelled food items are carried off in the beak to be dealt with at leisure.
Play media
Blue jay cracking nuts
Blue jays have strong black bills which they use for cracking nuts, usually while holding them with their feet, and for eating corn, grains and seeds. Its food is sought both on the ground and in trees and includes virtually all known types of plant and animal sources, such as acorns and beech mast, weed seeds, grain, fruits and other berries, peanuts, bread, meat, small invertebrates of many types, scraps in town parks, bird-table food and rarely eggs and nestlings.[23] Blue jays will sometimes cache food, though to what extent differs widely among individuals.[30] Although seemingly contentious in their general behavior, Blue jays are frequently subservient to other medium-sized birds who visit bird-feeders. In Florida, Blue jays were dominated at feeders by Eastern gray squirrels, Florida scrub-jays, common grackles and red-headed woodpeckers, all of which were occasionally observed to aggressively prevent the jays from feeding.[23]
Reproduction[edit]
Nest in the top of a little pine
Eggs, Collection Museum Wiesbaden
The mating season begins in mid-March, peaks in mid-April to May, and extends into July. Any suitable tree or large bush may be used for nesting, though an evergreen is preferred. The nest is preferentially built at a height in the trees of 3 to 10 m (9.8 to 32.8 ft). It is cup-shaped and composed of twigs, small roots, bark strips, moss, other plant material, cloth, paper, and feathers, with occasional mud added to the cup.
Blue jays are not very picky about nesting locations. If no better place is available – e.g. in a heavily deforested area – they will even use places like the large mailboxes typical of the rural United States.[24] They also appropriate nests of other mid-sized songbirds as long as these are placed in suitable spots; American robin nests are commonly used by blue jays, for example.
Fledgling in mid-June
Fledgling head
Blue jays typically form monogamous pair bonds for life. Both sexes build the nest and rear the young, though only the female broods them. The male feeds the female while she is brooding the eggs. There are usually between 3 and 6 (averaging 4 or 5) eggs laid and incubated over 16–18 days. The young fledge usually between 17–21 days after hatching.[27]
After the juveniles fledge, the family travels and forages together until early fall, when the young birds disperse to avoid competition for food during the winter. Sexual maturity is reached after one year of age. Blue jays have been recorded to live for more than 26 years in captivity and one wild jay was found to have been around 17 and a half years old.[31] A more common lifespan for wild birds that survive to adulthood is around 7 years.[citation needed] Beyond predation and the occasional collision with man-made objects, a common cause of mortality in recent decades has been the West Nile Virus, which corvids as a whole seem especially susceptible to. However, despite several major local declines, overall blue jays have not seemed to have been depleted by the disease.[26]
Vocalizations[edit]
Blue jays can make a large variety of sounds, and individuals may vary perceptibly in their calling style. Like other corvids, they may learn to mimic human speech. Blue jays can also copy the cries of local hawks so well that it is sometimes difficult to tell which it is.[32] Their voice is typical of most jays in being varied, but the most commonly recognized sound is the alarm call, which is a loud, almost gull-like scream. There is also a high-pitched jayer-jayer call that increases in speed as the bird becomes more agitated. This particular call can be easily confused with the chickadee's song because of the slow starting chick-ah-dee-ee. Blue jays will use these calls to band together to mob potential predators such as hawks and drive them away from the jays' nests.
"Rusty pump" calls
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Blue jays also have quiet, almost subliminal calls which they use among themselves in proximity. One of the most distinctive calls of this type is often referred to as the "rusty pump" owing to its squeaky resemblance to the sound of an old hand-operated water pump. The blue jay (and other corvids) are distinct from most other songbirds for using their call as a song.
Cultural depiction and interpretation[edit]
In old African American folklore of the southern United States, the blue jay was held to be a servant of the Devil, and "was not encountered on a Friday as he was fetching sticks down to Hell; furthermore, he was so happy and chirpy on a Saturday as he was relieved to return from Hell".[33]
The blue jay was adopted as the team symbol of the Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball team, as well as some of their minor league affiliates. Their mascot is Ace, also a blue jay.
The blue jay is featured in Mark Twain's "A Tramp Abroad", Chapter 3 "Baker's Blue-Jay Yarn". The blue jay is also the official mascot for Johns Hopkins University.
One of the main protagonists of the Cartoon Network show Regular Show is an anthropomorphic blue jay named Mordecai.
Provincial bird[edit]
The blue jay is the provincial bird of the province of Prince Edward Island in Canada.
References[edit]
Jump up ^ BirdLife International (2012). "Cyanocitta cristata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved November 26, 2013.
Jump up ^ "The blue jays are coming! Hide yo kids, hide yo nuts!". Seriously, Science?.
Jump up ^ Coues, Elliot (1890). Key to North American birds (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Estes and Lauriat. p. 326. OCLC 469020022.
Jump up ^ "jaybird – definition of jaybird by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia". Retrieved April 20, 2011.
Jump up ^ Catesby, Mark (1731). Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahamas (1st ed.). London: Royal Society House. p. 87.
Jump up ^ Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis. Tomus I. Editio Decima, Reformata (in Latin). Holmiae: Laurentius Salvius. p. 106.
Jump up ^ Bonaparte, Charles L. (1838). A geographical and comparative list of the birds of Europe and North America. London: J. Van Voorst. p. 27.
Jump up ^ Bulletin of the National History Survey, Issues 4-6. Chicago: Chicago Academy of Sciences. 1900. p. 120.
Jump up ^ Sandrock, James (2014). The Scientific Nomenclature of Birds in the Upper Midwest. University of Iowa Press. p. 48. ISBN 978-1609382254.
^ Jump up to: a b c http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Blue_Jay_dtl.html
^ Jump up to: a b "ADW: Cyanocitta cristata: INFORMATION". Animal Diversity Web.
Jump up ^ Jewell, S. D. (1986). "Weights and wing lengths in Connecticut Blue Jays". Connecticut Warbler. 6 (4): 47–49.
Jump up ^ Fisk, E.J. (1979). "Fall and winter birds near Homestead, Florida". Bird-Banding. 50: 224–303. doi:10.2307/4512458.
^ Jump up to: a b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-02-04. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
^ Jump up to: a b Madge, Steve; Burn, Hilary (1994). Crows and jays: a guide to the crows, jays and magpies of the world. London: A&C Black. ISBN 978-0-7136-3999-5.
Jump up ^ Carpenter, Anita (February 2003). "What Color is a Bluejay?". Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine.
Jump up ^ Rhymer, Judith M.; Simberloff, Daniel (1996). "Extinction by hybridization and introgression". Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 27: 83–109. doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.27.1.83.
Jump up ^ Smith GH. 1978. Range extension of the Blue Jay into western North America. Bird-Banding 49:208–214.
Jump up ^ Tarvin KA, Woolfenden GE. 1999. Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata), no. 469. In: A. Poole (ed.). The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York.
Jump up ^ Livezey, KB (2009a). "Range expansion of Barred Owls, part I: chronology and distribution". American Midland Naturalist. 161: 49–56. doi:10.1674/0003-0031-161.1.49.
Jump up ^ Livezey, KB (2009b). "Range expansion of Barred Owls, part 2: facilitating ecological changes". American Midland Naturalist. 161: 323–349. doi:10.1674/0003-0031-161.2.323.
Jump up ^ Livezey KB. 2010. Killing barred owls to help spotted owls II: implications for many other range-expanding species. Northwestern Naturalist 91:251–270.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Blue Jay. birds.cornell.edu
^ Jump up to: a b Henninger, W. F. (1906). "A preliminary list of the birds of Seneca County, Ohio" (PDF). Wilson Bulletin. 18 (2): 47–60.
Jump up ^ Texas Parks & Wildlife. Retrieved July 1, 2008.
^ Jump up to: a b "ADW: Cyanocitta cristata: INFORMATION". Animal Diversity Web.
^ Jump up to: a b c "Erreur".
Jump up ^ Jones, Thony B.; Kamil, Alan C. (1973). "Tool-Making and Tool-Using in the Northern Blue Jay". Science. 180 (4090): 1076–1078. PMID 17806587. doi:10.1126/science.180.4090.1076.
Jump up ^ American Rivers. tumblr.com
Jump up ^ AllAboutBirds.org – Blue Jay The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Jump up ^ "Longevity Records Of North American Birds". U. S. Geological Survey: Bird Banding Laboratory. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
Jump up ^ George, Philip Brandt. (2003). In: Baughman, Mel M. (ed.) Reference Atlas to the Birds of North America. National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C., p. 279, ISBN 978-0-7922-3373-2
Jump up ^ Ingersoll, Ernest (1923). Birds in legend, fable and folklore. New York: Longmans, Green and Co. pp. 166–167. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
Further reading[edit]
Tarvin, K.A. & Woolfenden, G.E. (1999). Blue Jay (Cyanocitta - cristata). In: Poole, A. & Gill, F. (eds.): The Birds of North America p. 469. Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, DC.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Cyanocitta cristata (category)
Wikispecies has information related to: Cyanocitta cristata
Blue Jay ID, including sound and video, at Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Blue Jay – Cyanocitta cristata – USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
"Blue Jay media". Internet Bird Collection.
Blue Jay at borealforest.org
Blue Jay Bird Sound at Florida Museum of Natural History
Photo essay of blue jay nestlings
Blue Jay photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
[show]
v
t
e
Extant species of family Corvidae
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Subclass: Neornithes
Superorder: Neognathae
Order: Passeriformes
[show]
Family Corvidae
Choughs
Pyrrhocorax
Alpine chough (P. graculus)
Red-billed chough (P. pyrrhocorax)
Treepies
Crypsirina
Hooded treepie (C. cucullata)
Black racket-tailed treepie (C. temia)
Dendrocitta
Andaman treepie (D. bayleyi)
Bornean treepie (D. cinerascens)
Grey treepie (D. formosae)
Black-faced treepie (D. frontalis)
White-bellied treepie (D. leucogastra)
Sumatran treepie (D. occipitalis)
Rufous treepie (D. vagabunda)
Platysmurus
Black magpie (P. leucopterus)
Bornean black magpie (P. l. aterrimus)
Temnurus
Ratchet-tailed treepie (T. temnurus)
Oriental
magpies
Cissa
Common green magpie (C. chinensis)
Indochinese green magpie (C. hypoleuca)
Bornean green magpie (C. jefferyi)
Javan green magpie (C. thalassina)
Urocissa
Taiwan blue magpie (U. caerulea)
Red-billed blue magpie (U. erythrorhyncha)
Yellow-billed blue magpie (U. flavirostris)
Sri Lanka blue magpie (U. ornata)
White-winged magpie (U. whiteheadi)
Old World jays
Garrulus
Eurasian jay (G. glandarius)
Lanceolated jay (G. lanceolatus)
Lidth's jay (G. lidthi)
Podoces
(Ground jays)
Biddulph's ground jay (P. biddulphi)
Henderson's ground jay (P. hendersoni)
Pander's ground jay (P. panderi)
Persian ground jay (P. pleskei)
Ptilostomus
Piapiac (P. afer)
Stresemann's
bushcrow
Zavattariornis
Stresemann's bushcrow (Z. stresemanni)
[show]
Family Corvidae (continued)
Nutcrackers
Nucifraga
Spotted nutcracker (N. caryocatactes)
Clark's nutcracker (N. columbiana)
Holarctic
magpies
Pica
Black-billed magpie (P. hudsonia)
Yellow-billed magpie (P. nuttalli)
Eurasian magpie (P. pica)
Korean magpie (P. sericea)
True crows
(crows, ravens,
jackdaws and rooks)
Corvus
Australian and Melanesian species
Little crow (C. bennetti)
Australian raven (C. coronoides)
Bismarck crow (C. insularis)
Brown-headed crow (C. fuscicapillus)
Bougainville crow (C. meeki)
Little raven (C. mellori)
New Caledonian crow (C. moneduloides)
Torresian crow (C. orru)
Forest raven (C. tasmanicus)
Grey crow (C. tristis)
Long-billed crow (C. validus)
White-billed crow (C. woodfordi)
Pacific island species
Hawaiian crow (C. hawaiiensis)
Mariana crow (C. kubaryi)
Tropical Asian species
Daurian jackdaw (C. dauuricus)
Slender-billed crow (C. enca)
Flores crow (C. florensis)
Jungle crow (C. macrorhynchos)
House crow (C. splendens)
Collared crow (C. torquatus)
Piping crow (C. typicus)
Banggai crow (C. unicolor)
Violet crow (C. violaceus)
Eurasian and North African species
Mesopotamian crow (C. capellanus)
Hooded crow (C. cornix)
Carrion crow (C. corone)
Rook (C. frugilegus)
Jackdaw (C. monedula )
Eastern carrion crow (C. orientalis)
Fan-tailed raven (C. rhipidurus)
Brown-necked raven (C. ruficollis)
Holarctic species
Common raven (C. corax)
North and Central American species
American crow (C. brachyrhynchos)
Northwestern crow (C. caurinus)
Chihuahuan raven (C. cryptoleucus)
Tamaulipas crow (C. imparatus)
Jamaican crow (C. jamaicensis)
White-necked crow (C. leucognaphalus)
Cuban crow (C. nasicus)
Fish crow (C. ossifragus)
Palm crow (C. palmarum)
Sinaloan crow (C. sinaloae)
Tropical African species
White-necked raven (C. albicollis)
Pied crow (C. albus)
Cape crow (C. capensis)
Thick-billed raven (C. crassirostris)
Somali crow (C. edithae)
[hide]
Family Corvidae (continued)
Azure-winged
magpies
Cyanopica
Iberian magpie (C. cooki)
Azure-winged magpie (C. cyanus)
Grey jays
Perisoreus
Grey jay (P. canadensis)
Siberian jay (P. infaustus)
Sichuan jay (P. internigrans)
New World jays
Aphelocoma
(Scrub jays)
California scrub jay (A. californica)
Island scrub jay (A. insularis)
Woodhouse's scrub jay (A. woodhouseii)
Florida scrub jay (A. coerulescens)
Mexican jay (A. ultramarina)
Unicolored jay (A. unicolor)
Calocitta
(Magpie-Jays)
Black-throated magpie-jay (C. colliei)
White-throated Magpie-jay (C. formosa)
Cyanocitta
Blue jay (C. cristata)
Steller's jay (C. stelleri)
Cyanocorax
Black-chested jay (C. affinis)
Purplish-backed jay (C. beecheii)
Azure jay (C. caeruleus)
Cayenne jay (C. cayanus)
Plush-crested jay (C. chrysops)
Curl-crested jay (C. cristatellus)
Purplish jay (C. cyanomelas)
White-naped jay (C. cyanopogon)
Tufted jay (C. dickeyi)
Azure-naped jay (C. heilprini)
Bushy-crested jay (C. melanocyaneus)
Brown jay (C. morio)
White-tailed jay (C. mystacalis)
San Blas jay (C. sanblasianus)
Violaceous jay (C. violaceus)
Green jay (C. ynca)
Yucatan jay (C. yucatanicus)
Cyanolyca
Silvery-throated jay (C. argentigula)
Black-collared jay (C. armillata)
Azure-hooded jay (C. cucullata)
White-throated jay (C. mirabilis)
Dwarf jay (C. nana)
Beautiful jay (C. pulchra)
Black-throated jay (C. pumilo)
Turquoise jay (C. turcosa)
White-collared jay (C. viridicyana)
Gymnorhinus
Pinyon jay (G. cyanocephalus)
Taxon identifiers
Wd: Q199758
ADW: Cyanocitta_cristata
eBird: blujay
EoL: 856046
Fossilworks: 129837
GBIF: 2482593
IBC: blue-jay-cyanocitta-cristata
iNaturalist: 8229
ITIS: 179680
IUCN: 22705611
NCBI: 28727
Xeno-canto: Cyanocitta-cristata
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blue_jay&oldid=796593312"
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text:
History of the United States dollar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The history of the United States Dollar refers to more than 240 years since the Continental Congress of the United States authorized the issuance of Continental Currency in 1775.[1] On April 2, 1792, the United States Congress created the United States dollar as the country's standard unit of money. The term dollar had already been in common usage since the colonial period when it referred to eight-real coin (Spanish dollar) used by the Spanish throughout New Spain.
Contents
[hide]
1 Background
2 Early history
3 Gold standard
3.1 The Gold Reserve Act
3.2 U.S. dollar value vs. gold value
4 Silver standard
5 Use as international reserve currency
5.1 History
5.2 Impact
6 United States Notes
7 Fiat standard
8 Color and design
9 See also
10 References
11 External links
Background[edit]
2 dollars, first November 1862
This $50 Continental Currency note (from 1778) was designed by Francis Hopkinson. The unfinished pyramid design was a precursor to the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States.
By the end of 1778, Continental Currency retained only between 1⁄5 to 1⁄7 of its original face value. By 1780, Continental bills – or Continentals – were worth just 1⁄40 of their face value. Congress tried to reform the currency by removing the old bills from circulation and issuing new ones, but this met with little to no success. By May 1781, Continentals had become so worthless they ceased to circulate as money. Benjamin Franklin noted that the depreciation of the currency had, in effect, acted as a tax to pay for the war.[2] In the 1790s, after the ratification of the United States Constitution, Continentals could be exchanged for treasury bonds at 1% of face value.[3]
Congress appointed Robert Morris to be Superintendent of Finance of the United States following the collapse of Continental currency. In 1782, Morris advocated the creation of the first financial institution chartered by the United States. The Bank of North America was funded in part by specie loaned to the United States by France. Morris helped finance the final stages of the war by issuing notes in his name, backed by his own money. The Bank of North America also issued notes convertible into specie.[4] On July 6, 1785, the Continental Congress of the United States authorized the issuance of a new currency, the US dollar.
However, runaway inflation and the collapse of the Continental currency prompted delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 to include the gold and silver clause in the United States Constitution, preventing individual States from issuing their own bills of credit. Article One states they were prohibited to "make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts."[5] This restriction of bills of credit was extended to the Federal Government, as the power to "emit bills" from the Articles of Confederation was abolished, leaving only Congress with the power "to borrow money on credit."[6][7]
The United States Mint was created by Congress following the passing of the Coinage Act of 1792. It was primarily tasked with producing and circulating coinage. The first Mint building was in Philadelphia, then the capital of the United States. The Mint was originally placed within the Department of State, until the Coinage Act of 1873 when it became part of the Department of the Treasury (in 1981 it was placed under the auspices of the Treasurer of the United States). The Mint had the authority to convert any precious metals into standard coinage for anyone's account with no seigniorage charge beyond refining costs.
Early history[edit]
A 1795 Flowing Hair Dollar
An 1804 Silver dollar.
After the creation of the U.S. dollar, the fledgling American administration of President George Washington turned its attention to monetary issues again in the early 1790s under the leadership of Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury at the time. Congress acted on Hamilton's recommendations in the Coinage Act of 1792, which established the dollar as the basic unit of account for the United States. The word dollar is derived from Low Saxon cognate of the High German Thaler. The most commonly circulated and readily available currency, used by common Americans, at this time, was the Spanish Peso, also known as the "Spanish milled dollar", which was valued for its high silver content.
In the early 19th century, gold rose in relation to silver, resulting in the removal from commerce of nearly all gold coins, and their subsequent melting. Therefore, in the Coinage Act of 1834, the 15:1 ratio of silver to gold was changed to a 16:1 ratio by reducing the weight of the nation's gold coinage. This created a new U.S. dollar that was backed by 1.50 g (23.22 grains) of gold. However, the previous dollar had been represented by 1.60 g (24.75 grains) of gold. The result of this revaluation, which was the first devaluation of the U.S. dollar, was that the value in gold of the dollar was reduced by 6%. Moreover, for a time, both gold and silver coins were useful in commerce.
In 1853, the weights of U.S. silver coins (except the dollar itself, which was rarely used) were reduced. This had the effect of placing the nation effectively (although not officially) on the gold standard. The retained weight in the dollar coin was a nod to bimetallism, although it had the effect of further driving the silver dollar coin from commerce. Foreign coins, including the Spanish dollar, were also, widely used,[8] as legal tender, until 1857.
With the enactment of the National Banking Act of 1863, during the American Civil War and its later versions that taxed states' bonds and currency out of existence, the dollar became the sole currency of the United States and remains so today.
During the 19th century the dollar was less accepted around the world than the British pound. Nellie Bly carried Bank of England notes on her 1889-1890 trip around the world in 72 days; she also brought some dollars, Bly wrote, "to use at different ports as a test to see if American money was known outside of America". Traveling east from New York, she did not see American money until she found $20 gold pieces used as jewelry in Colombo; there Bly found that as currency dollars were accepted at a 60% discount.[9]
In 1878, the Bland-Allison Act was enacted to provide for freer coinage of silver. This act required the government to purchase between $2 million and $4 million worth of silver bullion each month at market prices and to coin it into silver dollars. This was, in effect, a subsidy for politically influential silver producers.
The discovery of large silver deposits in the Western United States in the late 19th century created a political controversy. Due to the large influx of silver, the value of silver in the nation's coinage dropped precipitously. On one side were agrarian interests such as the United States Greenback Party that wanted to retain the bimetallic standard in order to inflate the dollar, which would allow farmers to more easily repay their debts. On the other side were Eastern banking and commercial interests, who advocated sound money and a switch to the gold standard. This issue split the Democratic Party in 1896. It led to the famous "cross of gold" speech given by William Jennings Bryan, and may have inspired many of the themes in The Wizard of Oz. Despite the controversy, the status of silver was slowly diminished through a series of legislative changes from 1873 to 1900, when a gold standard was formally adopted. The gold standard survived, with several modifications, until 1971.
Gold standard[edit]
Main article: Gold standard
A gold-standard 1928 one-dollar bill. It is identified as a "United States Note" rather than a Federal Reserve note and by the words "Will Pay to the Bearer on Demand", which do not appear on today's currency. This clause became obsolete in 1933 but remained on new notes for 30 years thereafter.
Bimetallism persisted until March 14, 1900, with the passage of the Gold Standard Act, which provided that:
...the dollar consisting of twenty-five and eight-tenths grains (1.67 g) of gold nine-tenths fine, as established by section thirty-five hundred and eleven of the Revised Statutes of the United States, shall be the standard unit of value, and all forms of money issued or coined by the United States shall be maintained at a parity of value with this standard...
Thus the United States moved to a gold standard, making both gold and silver the legal-tender coinage of the United States, and guaranteed the dollar as convertible to 1.5 g (23.22 grains) of gold.[10]
The gold standard was suspended twice during World War I, once fully and then for foreign exchange. At the onset of the war, U.S. corporations had large debts payable to European entities, who began liquidating their debts in gold. With debts looming to Europe, the dollar to British pound exchange rate reached as high as $6.75, far above the (gold) parity of $4.8665. This caused large gold outflows until July 31, 1914, when the New York Stock Exchange closed and the gold standard was temporarily suspended. In order to defend the exchange value of the dollar, the US Treasury Department authorized state and nationally chartered banks to issue emergency currency under the Aldrich-Vreeland Act, and the newly created Federal Reserve organized a fund to assure debts to foreign creditors. These efforts were largely successful, and the Aldrich-Vreeland notes were retired starting in November and the gold standard was restored when the New York Stock Exchange re-opened in December 1914.[11]
As the United States remained neutral in the war, it remained the only country to maintain its gold standard, doing so without restriction on import or export of gold from 1915 to 1917. During the participation of the United States as a belligerent, President Wilson banned gold export, thereby suspending the gold standard for foreign exchange. After the war, European countries slowly returned to their gold standards, though in somewhat altered form.[11][12]
During the Great Depression, every major currency abandoned the gold standard. Among the earliest, the Bank of England abandoned the gold standard in 1931 as speculators demanded gold in exchange for currency, threatening the solvency of the British monetary system. This pattern repeated throughout Europe and North America. In the United States, the Federal Reserve was forced to raise interest rates in order to protect the gold standard for the US dollar, worsening already severe domestic economic pressures. After bank runs became more pronounced in early 1933, people began to hoard gold coins as distrust for banks led to distrust for paper money, worsening deflation and depleting gold reserves.[11][12]
The Gold Reserve Act[edit]
In early 1933, in order to fight severe deflation Congress and President Roosevelt implemented a series of Acts of Congress and Executive Orders which suspended the gold standard except for foreign exchange, revoked gold as universal legal tender for debts, and banned private ownership of significant amounts of gold coin. These acts included Executive Order 6073, the Emergency Banking Act, Executive Order 6102, Executive Order 6111, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, 1933 Banking Act, House Joint Resolution 192, and later the Gold Reserve Act.[11] These actions were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the "Gold Clause Cases" in 1935.[13]
For foreign exchange purposes, the set $20.67 per ounce value of the dollar was lifted, allowing the dollar to float freely in foreign exchange markets with no set value in gold. This was terminated after one year. Roosevelt attempted first to restabilize falling prices with the Agricultural Adjustment Act; however, this did not prove popular, so instead the next politically popular option was to devalue the dollar on foreign exchange markets. Under the Gold Reserve Act the value of gold was fixed at $35 per ounce, making the dollar more attractive for foreign buyers (and making foreign currencies more expensive for those holding dollars). This change led to more conversion of gold into dollars, allowing the U.S. to effectively corner the world gold market.[14][15]
The suspension of the gold standard was considered temporary by many in markets and in the government at the time, but restoring the standard was considered a low priority to dealing with other issues.[11][14]
Under the post-World War II Bretton Woods system, all other currencies were valued in terms of U.S. dollars and were thus indirectly linked to the gold standard. The need for the U.S. government to maintain both a $35 per troy ounce (112.53 ¢/g) market price of gold and also the conversion to foreign currencies caused economic and trade pressures. By the early 1960s, compensation for these pressures started to become too complicated to manage.
In March 1968, the effort to control the private market price of gold was abandoned. A two-tier system began. In this system all central-bank transactions in gold were insulated from the free market price. Central banks would trade gold among themselves at $35 per troy ounce (112.53 ¢/g) but would not trade with the private market. The private market could trade at the equilibrium market price and there would be no official intervention. The price immediately jumped to $43 per troy ounce (138.25 ¢/g). The price of gold touched briefly back at $35 (112.53 ¢/g) near the end of 1969 before beginning a steady price increase. This gold price increase turned steep through 1972 and hit a high that year of over $70 (2.25 $/g). By that time floating exchange rates had also begun to emerge, which indicated the de facto dissolution of the Bretton Woods system. The two-tier system was abandoned in November 1973. By then the price of gold had reached $100 per troy ounce (3.22 $/g).
In the early 1970s, inflation caused by rising prices for imported commodities, especially oil, and spending on the Vietnam War, which was not counteracted by cuts in other government expenditures, combined with a trade deficit to create a situation in which the dollar was worth less than the gold used to back it.
In 1971, President Richard Nixon unilaterally ordered the cancellation of the direct convertibility of the United States dollar to gold. This act was known as the Nixon Shock.
U.S. dollar value vs. gold value[edit]
The sudden jump in the price of gold after the demise of the Bretton Woods accords was a result of the significant prior debasement of the US dollar due to excessive inflation of the monetary supply via central bank (Federal Reserve) coordinated fractional reserve banking under the Bretton Woods partial gold standard. In the absence of an international mechanism tying the dollar to gold via fixed exchange rates, the dollar became a pure fiat currency and as such fell to its free market exchange price versus gold. Consequently, the price of gold rose from $35 per troy ounce (1.125 $/g) in 1969 to almost $500 (29 $/g) in 1980.
Shortly after the gold price started its ascent in the early 1970s, the price of other commodities such as oil also began to rise. While commodity prices became more volatile, the average exchange rate between oil and gold remained much the same in the 1990s as it had been in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Fearing the emergence of a specie gold-based economy separate from central banking, and with the corresponding threat of the collapse of the U.S. dollar, the U.S. government approved several changes to the trading on the COMEX. These changes resulted in a steep decline in the traded value of precious metals from the early 1980s onward.
In September 1987 under the Reagan administration the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury James Baker made a proposal through the International Monetary Fund to use a commodity basket (which included gold).[citation needed]
Silver standard[edit]
Main article: Silver standard
"Five Silver Dollars" of Series 1923
United States silver certificates were a type of representative money printed from 1878 to 1964 in the United States as part of its circulation of paper currency.[16] They were produced in response to silver agitation by citizens who were angered by the Fourth Coinage Act, and were used alongside the gold-based dollar notes. The silver certificates were initially redeemable in the same face value of silver dollar coins, and later in raw silver bullion.
Since the early 1920s, silver certificates were issued in $1, $5, and $10 denominations. In the 1928 series, only $1 silver certificates were produced. Fives and tens of this time were mainly Federal Reserve notes, which were backed by and redeemable in gold. In 1933, Congress passed the Agricultural Adjustment Act which included a clause allowing for the pumping of silver into the market to replace the gold. A new 1933 series of $10 silver certificate was printed and released, but not many were released into circulation.
In 1934, a law was passed in Congress that changed the obligation on Silver Certificates so as to denote the current location of the silver.
The last government regulation regarding the silver standard was in 1963, when President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 11110, delegating to the Treasury Secretary his authority to authorize the US Department of Treasury to issue silver certificates for any silver held by the U.S. Government in excess of that not already backing issued certificates. This was necessary because of Kennedy's signing of Public Law 88-36 on the same day, one of the effects of which was a repeal of the Silver Purchase Act of 1934-this act had authorized the Treasury Secretary to purchase silver bullion and issue silver certificates against it. Silver certificates continued to be issued for a short period of time in the $1 denomination, but were discontinued in late 1963.
Use as international reserve currency[edit]
History[edit]
First small-sized $1 bill which was issued in 1928 as a silver certificate
World War II devastated European and Asian economies while leaving the United States' economy relatively unharmed.[17] As European governments exhausted their gold reserves and borrowed to pay the United States for war material, the United States accumulated large gold reserves. This combination gave the United States significant political and economic power following the war.[18]
The Bretton Woods agreement codified this economic dominance of the dollar after the war. In 1944, Allied nations sought to create an international monetary order that sustained the global economy and prevented the economic malaise that followed the First World War. The Bretton Woods agreement laid the foundations for an international monetary order that created rules and expectations for the international economic system. It created the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the predecessor of the World Bank, and an international monetary system based on fixed exchange rates. It valued the dollar at $35 per ounce of gold and the remaining signatories pegged their respective currency relative to the dollar, leading some economists to argue that Bretton Woods “dethroned”[19] gold as the default asset.[20]
While Bretton Woods institutionalized the dollar's importance following the war, Europe and Asia faced dollar shortages. The international community needed dollars to finance imports from the United States to rebuild what was lost in the war.[21] In 1948 Congress passed the European Recovery Program - generally known as the Marshall Plan – giving dollars to European countries to purchase imports needed to rebuild their economies. The plan helped European countries by providing them dollars to purchase the imports needed to produce exports, eventually allowing the countries to export enough of their own goods to obtain the dollars necessary to sustain their economies without reliance on any Marshall-like plan. At the same time, Joseph Dodge worked with Japanese officials and Congress to pass the Dodge Plan in 1949, which worked similarly to the Marshall Plan, but for Japan rather than Europe.[20]
The Marshall and Dodge plans' successes have brought new challenges to the U.S. dollar. In 1959, dollars in circulation around the world exceeded U.S. gold reserves, and the dollar became vulnerable to the currency equivalent of a bank run. In 1960, Yale economist Robert Triffin described the problem to Congress: either the dollar was not freely available and other countries could not afford to import American goods, or the dollar was freely available but confidence that the dollar could be converted to gold would wane.[22]
Eventually, the United States needed to devalue the dollar. During the early 1960s American officials largely prevented the conversion of dollars to gold with a series of "gentlemanly" agreements and other policies – which included the London Gold Pool - but these actions were not sustainable; the danger of a run on U.S. gold reserves was too high.[23] With Nixon's election in 1968, American officials became increasingly concerned until Nixon finally issued Executive Order 11615 in August 1971, ending the direct convertibility of dollars to gold. He said, "We must protect the position of the American dollar as pillar of monetary stability around the world… I am determined that the American dollar must never again be hostage in the hands of the international speculators."[24] This became known as the Nixon Shock and marked the dollar's transition from the gold standard to a fiat currency.
Impact[edit]
The United States enjoys many benefits because the dollar serves as the international reserve currency. The United States could not face a balance of payments crisis as American debts are denominated in dollars, thus the Federal Reserve could simply print more dollars. In other words, the United States cannot suffer a debt crisis, per se, but would instead face an inflation crisis. The cost of producing a dollar to the United States is simply the cost of printing the note, whereas a foreign government must provide a dollar’s worth of goods for that dollar; the difference between these two values is called seigniorage and its benefits go directly to the American government.[25] Further, the United States dollar's position in the world allows the American federal government to borrow money at exceptionally low interests rates due to high demand for the dollar. This phenomenon is generally called "exorbitant privilege" and allows the United States to run a balance of payments deficit "without tears," as French economist Jacque Rueff said.[26]
The position of the dollar as the international reserve currency also came with costs; the American government would be more likely to forego fiscal expansionary policies in order to maintain confidence in the dollar.[27]
United States Notes[edit]
Main article: United States Note
$5 United States Note of Series 1963.
$100 United States Note of Series 1966.
A United States Note, also known as a Legal Tender Note, was a type of paper money that was issued from 1862 to 1971 in the U.S. Having been current for over 100 years, they were issued for longer than any other form of U.S. paper money. They were known popularly as "greenbacks" in their day, a name inherited from the Demand Notes that they replaced in 1862.
While issuance of United States Notes ended in January 1971, existing United States Notes are still valid currency in the United States today, though rarely seen in circulation.
Both United States Notes and Federal Reserve Notes are parts of the national currency of the United States, and both have been legal tender since the gold recall of 1933. Both have been used in circulation as money in the same way. However, the issuing authority for them came from different statutes.[28] United States Notes were created as fiat currency, in that the government has never categorically guaranteed to redeem them for precious metal - even though at times, such as after the specie resumption of 1879, federal officials were authorized to do so if requested.
The difference between a United States Note and a Federal Reserve Note is that a United States Note represented a "bill of credit" and was inserted by the Treasury directly into circulation free of interest. Federal Reserve Notes are backed by debt purchased by the Federal Reserve, and thus generate seigniorage for the Federal Reserve System, which serves as a lending intermediary between the Treasury and the public.
Fiat standard[edit]
Today, like the currency of most nations, the dollar is fiat money, unbacked by any physical asset. A holder of a federal reserve note has no right to demand an asset such as gold or silver from the government in exchange for a note.[29] Consequently, some proponents of the intrinsic theory of value believe that the near-zero marginal cost of production of the current fiat dollar detracts from its attractiveness as a medium of exchange and store of value because a fiat currency without a marginal cost of production is easier to debase via overproduction and the subsequent inflation of the money supply.
In 1963, the words "PAYABLE TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND" were removed from all newly issued Federal Reserve notes. Then, in 1968, redemption of pre-1963 Federal Reserve notes for gold or silver officially ended. The Coinage Act of 1965 removed all silver from quarters and dimes, which were 90% silver prior to the act. However, there was a provision in the act allowing some coins to contain a 40% silver consistency, such as the Kennedy Half Dollar. Later, even this provision was removed, with the last circulating silver-content halves minted in 1969. All previously silver coins minted for general circulation are now clad. During 1982, the composition of the cent was changed from copper to zinc with a thin copper coating. The content of the nickel has not changed since 1946.[citation needed] Silver and gold coins are produced by the U.S. government, but only as non-circulating commemorative pieces or in sets for collectors.
All circulating notes, issued from 1861 to present, will be honored by the government at face value as legal tender. This means only that the government will give the holder of the notes new federal reserve notes in exchange for the note (or will accept the old notes as payments for debts owed to the federal government). The government is not obligated to redeem the notes for gold or silver, even if the note itself states that it is so redeemable. Some bills may have a premium to collectors.[citation needed]
The only exception to this rule is the $10,000 gold certificate of Series 1900, a number of which were inadvertently released to the public because of a fire in 1935. A box of them was literally thrown out a window. This set is not considered to be "in circulation" and, in fact, is stolen property. However, the government canceled these banknotes and removed them from official records. Their value, relevant only to collectors, is approximately one thousand US dollars.[30]
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, there is $1.2 trillion in total US currency in worldwide circulation as of July 2013.[31]
Color and design[edit]
U.S. Federal Reserve notes in the mid-1990s
The federal government began issuing currency like the Spanish dollars during the American Civil War. As photographic technology of the day could not reproduce color, it was decided the back of the bills would be printed in a color other than black. Because the color green was seen as a symbol of stability, it was selected. These were known as "greenbacks" for their color and started a tradition of the United States' printing the back of its money in green. The author of that invention was chemist Christopher Der-Seropian.[citation needed] In contrast to the currency notes of many other countries, Federal Reserve notes of varying denominations are the same colors: predominantly black ink with green highlights on the front, and predominantly green ink on the back. Federal Reserve notes were printed in the same colors for most of the 20th century, although older bills called "silver certificates" had blue highlights on the front, and "United States notes" had red highlights on the front.
In 1928, sizing of the bills was standardized (involving a 25% reduction in their current sizes, compared to the older, larger notes nicknamed "horse blankets").[32] Modern U.S. currency, regardless of denomination, is 2.61 inches (66.3 mm) wide, 6.14 inches (156 mm) long, and 0.0043 inches (0.109 mm) thick. A single bill weighs about fifteen and a half grains (one gram) and costs approximately 4.2 cents for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to produce.
Microprinting and security threads were introduced in the 1991 currency series.
Another series started in 1996 with the $100 note, adding the following changes:
A larger portrait, moved off-center to create more space to incorporate a watermark.
The watermark to the right of the portrait depicting the same historical figure as the portrait. The watermark can be seen only when held up to the light (and had long been a standard feature of all other major currencies).
A security thread that will glow pink when exposed to ultraviolet light in a dark environment.[33] The thread is in a unique position on each denomination.
Color-shifting ink that changes from green to black when viewed from different angles. This feature appears in the numeral on the lower right-hand corner of the bill front.
Microprinting in the numeral in the note's lower left-hand corner and on Benjamin Franklin's coat.
Concentric fine-line printing in the background of the portrait and on the back of the note. This type of printing is difficult to copy well.
The value of the currency written in 14pt Arial font on the back for those with sight disabilities.
Other features for machine authentication and processing of the currency.
Annual releases of the 1996 series followed. The $50 note June 12, 1997, introduced a large dark numeral with a light background on the back of the note to make it easier for people to identify the denomination.[34] The $20 note in 1998 introduced a new machine-readable capability to assist scanning devices. The security thread glows green under ultraviolet light, and "USA TWENTY" and a flag are printed on the thread, while the numeral "20" is printed within the star field of the flag. The microprinting is in the lower left ornamentation of the portrait and in the lower left corner of the note front. As of 1998[update], the $20 note was the most frequently counterfeited note in the United States.
May 13, 2003, The Treasury announced that it would introduce new colors into the $20 bill, the first U.S. currency since 1905 (not counting the 1934 gold certificates) to have colors other than green or black. The move was intended primarily to reduce counterfeiting, rather than to increase visual differentiation between denominations. The main colors of all denominations, including the new $20 and $50, remain green and black; the other colors are present only in subtle shades in secondary design elements. This contrasts with notes of the euro, Australian dollar, and most other currencies, where strong colours are used to distinguish each denomination from the other.
The new $20 bills entered circulation October 9, 2003, the new $50 bills, September 28, 2004. The new $10 notes were introduced in 2006 and redesigned $5 bills began to circulate March 13, 2008. Each will have subtle elements of different colors, though will continue to be primarily green and black. The Treasury said it will update Federal Reserve notes every 7 to 10 years to keep up with counterfeiting technology. In addition, there have been rumors that future banknotes will use embedded RFID microchips as another anti-counterfeiting tool.[35]
The 2008 $5 bill contains significant new security updates. The obverse side of the bill includes patterned yellow printing that will cue digital image-processing software to prevent digital copying, watermarks, digital security thread, and extensive microprinting. The reverse side includes an oversized purple number 5 to provide easy differentiation from other denominations.[36]
On April 21, 2010, the U.S. Government announced a heavily redesigned $100 bill that featured bolder colors, color shifting ink, microlenses, and other features. It was scheduled to start circulating on February 10, 2011, but was delayed due to the discovery of sporadic creasing on the notes and "mashing" (when there is too much ink on the paper, the artwork on the notes are not clearly seen). The redesigned $100 bill was released October 8, 2013.[37] It costs 11.8 cents to produce each bill.[38]
"The soundness of a nation's currency is essential to the soundness of its economy. And to uphold our currency's soundness, it must be recognized and honored as legal tender and counterfeiting must be effectively thwarted," Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said at a ceremony unveiling the $20 bill's new design. Prior to the current design, the most recent redesign of the U.S. dollar bill was in 1996.
Current $20 bill front.
Current $20 bill back.
As a result of a 2008 decision in an accessibility lawsuit filed by the American Council of the Blind, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is planning to implement a raised tactile feature in the next redesign of each note, except the $1 and the current version of the $100 bill. It also plans larger, higher-contrast numerals, more color differences, and distribution of currency readers to assist the visually impaired during the transition period.[39] In 2016, the Treasury announced a number of design changes to the $5, $10 and $20 bills; to be introduced in this next redesign. The redesigns include:[40][41]
The back of the $5 bill will be changed to showcase historical events at the pictured Lincoln Memorial by adding portraits of Marian Anderson (due to her famous performance there after being barred from Constitution Hall due to her race), Martin Luther King Jr.'s (due to his famous I Have A Dream speech), and Eleanor Roosevelt (who arranged Anderson's performance).
The back of the $10 bill will be changed to show a 1913 march for women's suffrage in the United States, plus portraits of Sojourner Truth, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
On the $20 bill, Andrew Jackson will move to the back (reduced in size, alongside the White House) and Harriet Tubman will appear on the front.
See also[edit]
Numismatics portal
Continental currency
Coinage Act of 1792
Coinage Act of 1849
National Banking Act (1863)
Coinage Act of 1864
Coinage Act of 1873
History of central banking in the United States
Nixon shock (1971)
International use of the US dollar
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "Independence, Colonial and Continental Currency: A New Nation's Currency". San Francisco, California: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Missing or empty |url= (help); |access-date= requires |url= (help)
Jump up ^ Wright, Robert E. (2008). One Nation Under Debt: Hamilton, Jefferson, and the History of What We Owe. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-07-154393-4. (Subscription required (help)).
Jump up ^ Newman, Eric P. (1990). The Early Paper Money of America. Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications. pp. 17, 49. ISBN 0-87341-120-X. (Subscription required (help)).
Jump up ^ Wright, p.62.
Jump up ^ U.S. Constitution, Article One, section 10.
Jump up ^ U.S. Constitution, Article I, section 8.
Jump up ^ Rozeff, Michael. Unknown (PDF). p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2013.
Jump up ^ Rothbard, Murray N. (20 July 2005). The Mystery of Banking (pdf). Ludwig von Mises Institute. p. 10. ISBN 978-1933550282.
Jump up ^ Bly, Nellie (1890). "Chapters I,IX". Around the World in Seventy-Two Days. The Pictorial Weeklies Company.
Jump up ^ "Gold Standard Act of 1900". The Statutes at large of the United States of America. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1901. pp. 45–50.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Crabbe, Leland (June 1989). "The International Gold Standard and U.S. monetary policy from World War I to the New Deal". Federal Reserve Bulletin.
^ Jump up to: a b Bernanke, Ben (March 2, 2004). "Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke: Money, Gold and the Great Depression". At the H. Parker Willis Lecture in Economic Policy, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia.
Jump up ^ "Gold Clause Cases". Retrieved 2008-07-03.
^ Jump up to: a b Meltzer, Allan H. (2004). "A History of the Federal Reserve: 1913-1951". University of Chicago Press: 442–446. ISBN 978-0226520001. (Subscription required (help)).
Jump up ^ Investopedia.com. "The Gold Standard Revisited". Retrieved 2008-07-03.
Jump up ^ "United States Paper Money Information". USPaperMoney.Info. Retrieved 2014-12-14.
Jump up ^ Tassava, Christopher. "The American Economy during World War II". Economic History Association.
Jump up ^ Rockoff, Hugh (1998). The economics of World War II. New York: Cambridge University press. p. 117. ISBN 978-0521785037. (Subscription required (help)).
Jump up ^ Meier, Gerald (1974). Problems of a World Monetary Order. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 38. ISBN 9780195030105. (Subscription required (help)).
^ Jump up to: a b Eichengreen, Barry (2011). Exorbitant Privilege; The Rise and Fall of the Dollar. New York: Oxford University press. pp. 44–49. ISBN 0199931097. (Subscription required (help)).
Jump up ^ Mayer, Martin (February 1981). The Fate of the Dollar. New York: Signet. p. 4. ISBN 978-0451096128.
Jump up ^ Meier 1974, p. 41.
Jump up ^ Mayer 1980, p. 108.
Jump up ^ Meier 1974, p. 164.
Jump up ^ Eichengreen 2011, p. 3.
Jump up ^ Eichengreen 2011, p. 40.
Jump up ^ Meier 1974, p. 104.
Jump up ^ "FAQs: Legal Tender Status". U.S. Treasury. January 4, 2011. Retrieved 2014-12-16.
Jump up ^ Kotlikoff, Laurence (2006). "Is the United States Bankrupt?" (PDF). Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Jump up ^ Clark, Frank. "Friedberg 1225 - The Series 1900 $10000". August 24, 2012. Accessed April 20, 2016.
Jump up ^ "How Currency Gets into Circulation". Federal Reserve Bank of New York. July 2013. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
Jump up ^ Cruikshank, Moses (March 1, 1986). The Life I've Been Living. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-912006-23-9.
Jump up ^ https://uscurrency.gov/sites/default/files/security/pdf/100_1996-2013_Features.pdf
Jump up ^ "Remarks of U.S. Treasurer Mary Ellen Withrow — Preview of the New $50 Bill". US Treasury. June 12, 1997. Retrieved 2014-12-16.
Jump up ^ "Cache Point". Snopes.com. May 19, 2011. Retrieved 2014-12-16.
Jump up ^ "Note of Caution". American City Business Journals. February 16, 2008. Retrieved 2014-12-16.
Jump up ^ "U.S. Government Unveils New Design for the $100 Note" (Press release). Bureau of Engraving and Printing. April 21, 2010. Archived from the original on May 10, 2010.
Jump up ^ Martinez, Alejandro J. (April 21, 2010). "Money Makeover: $100 Bill Gets Facelift to Fight Fakes". The Wall Street Journal.
Jump up ^ See Federal Reserve Note for details and references
Jump up ^ Calmes, Jackie (April 20, 2016). "Harriet Tubman Ousts Andrew Jackson in Change for a $20" – via NYTimes.com.
Jump up ^ "Anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman to replace Jackson on $20 bill". usatoday.com. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
External links[edit]
Joint Economic Committee Study, November 1998
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Obsolete United States currency and coinage
Topics
United States coinage
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Coins
Half cent (1793–1857)
Fugio Cent (1787)
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Two-cent piece (1836; 1864–1873)
Three-cent nickel (1865–1889)
Three-cent silver (1851–1873)
Half dime (1792–1873)
Twenty-cent piece (1875–1878)
Gold coins
Gold dollar (1849–1889)
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Patterns
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Currency
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values: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

values: A list of recent changes in the wiki [ctrl-alt-r]

values: portal navigation p-interaction p-interaction-label

values: List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [ctrl-alt-j]

values: Recent changes in pages linked from this page [ctrl-alt-k]

values: تاریخچه دلار ایالات متحده – Persian

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values: /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x

values:
suggestions
display: none; font-size: 13px;

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