Posted 13 years ago
whitman75
(349 items)
This is an Louisiana baby bond 5 dollar note. I dont much about it other than I find it rather cool. This thing is in almost mint state and is well over a 100 years old I think 1879 to be exact. The bond number is 32320. It says issued for certificate n0. 599 at the top. A really cool piece of history if you have any information on this piece let me know.
Leave it to some slick, fast-talking Louisiana lawmakers to find a way to stick it to the Federal Government. It happened after the Civil War during the Reconstruction Era. Much of the South was left reeling and many people needed all the help they could get in their efforts to get their farms back up and running and to rebuild their homes & businesses. But still piqued at the states of the former Confederacy, the Federal Government placed many restrictions on Southern states, including a hefty tax on state-issued bank notes.
Struggling to rebuild its economy, Louisiana came up with an ingenious way to circumvent the restrictions. To get around the issue and fool the government, Louisiana lawmakers produced a $5 “bond” that was, in reality, a state-issued $5 bill! These $5 Louisiana notes were made with interest-bearing coupons to disguise them as bonds! Used like regular bank notes, they became known as “Baby Bonds” due to their vignette of a young girl wearing a bonnet. The ultimate “Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it!” protest, these Louisiana Baby Bonds circulated right under the noses of federal agents and carpet baggers and were accepted as legal tender along with new Federal currency notes that were also circulating in the South.