The Army of the Empire of France invades Mexico after President Benito Juarez suspended interest payments to European private banks.

       [added 2/21/2021]

       Republican (nationalist) President Abraham Lincoln, of the united States—without a constitutional amendment—signs the National Loan Act, authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to issue 250,000,000 “dollars” in irredeemable “Greenback” currency for the purpose of levying war against the Confederate States.

       NOTES:

• This act gave the federal government control over the compulsory Union’s currency for the first time.
• Governments have always used legal tender laws to force their citizens to accept debased and devalued currency.

       Postscript: Banking interests almost immediately lobbied, and obtained, the “Exception Clause” disqualifying Greenbacks from being used to pay import duties or interest on the debt, which still had to paid with gold (lawful Money).  This allowed the bankers to sell gold, at a premium, to importers who needed it to pay federal duties.  The bankers would then buy federal bonds with the Greenbacks, which paid interest in gold at par (face value).  The bankers profited by buying the discounted Greenbacks again from the importers in exchange for gold.  The market value of the Greenback was directly tied to Union prospects for winning the war: the worse the war went for the Union, the greater the discount on the Greenback and the greater the profits for the bankers.

       [updated 10/10/2026] Thanks to Freedom’s Phoenix and Bill Holmes for this entry.