History UsefulNotes / AmericanMoney

* ¢: Cents. Appears ''after'' the number. Used instead of, not in addition to, the dollar sign, and only if an integer number of cents are specified (rather than a decimal value of dollars). Almost ''never'' used these days, as (thanks to inflation) most goods worth buying cost more than a dollar. Even as early as the 1960s, when computer character sets were becoming standardized, the ASCII character set did not contain a cents sign (though the rival EBCDIC character set did have one in its US/Canada code page) and the shift of 6, which was the cent sign on typewriter keyboards, instead became the caret (^) on American computer keyboards. The cent sign can be typed in [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows]] by holding Alt and typing 0162 (or 155) on the number pad, with Alt-Shift-C on the U.S. International or Canadian Multilingual layouts, or with [=AltGr=]-4 on the Canadian French layout; for UsefulNotes/MacOS, it's Option-4 or Option-Shift-4 depending on layout.

* ¢: Cents. Appears ''after'' the number. Used instead of, not in addition to, the dollar sign, and only if an integer number of cents are specified (rather than a decimal value of dollars). Almost ''never'' used these days, as (thanks to inflation) most goods worth buying cost more than a dollar. Even as early as the 1960s, when computer character sets were becoming standardized, the ASCII character set contained a cents sign (though the rival EBCDIC character set did have one in its US/Canada code page) and the shift of 6, which was the cent sign on typewriter keyboards, instead became the caret (^) on American computer keyboards. The cent sign can be typed in [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows]] by holding Alt and typing 0162 (or 155) on the number pad, with Alt-Shift-C on the U.S. International or Canadian Multilingual layouts, or with [=AltGr=]-4 on the Canadian French layout; for UsefulNotes/MacOS, it's Option-4 or Option-Shift-4 depending on layout.

Since UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the U.S. dollar has been the world's reserve currency. This means that the currencies of other nations tend to fix their value in relation to the dollar. This developed out of the Bretton Woods System--after World War II, all the European economies were shot to hell, and Western Europe collectively decided that for the sake of economic stability, they would all peg their currencies to the dollar, and the dollar would be on the gold standard (i.e., pegged to gold). Eastern Europe didn't participate, having non-convertible currencies anyway (for various reasons). UsefulNotes/RichardNixon took the dollar off the gold standard in 1971 after changes in the world economy made this system untenable, and European currencies gradually decided to float afterward.

In addition to its use as a reserve currency the U.S. dollar is used as public currency in some other countries. It's the only form of legal tender in Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia;[[note]]Three tiny South Pacific nations in a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_of_Free_Association Compact of Free Association]] with the U.S., in other words they get economic assistance in exchange for letting the U.S. build military bases there[[/note]] and is official legal tender alongside local currencies in Cambodia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Liberia, Panama, Timor-Leste, and Zimbabwe, and is ''unofficial'' legal tender in many other places. 35 foreign currencies are "pegged" to the U.S. dollar, meaning that a currency has a permanent fixed exchange rate to the dollar and is valued against other world currencies based on that.

'''Dimes:''' Officially called the dime. That's right. "Dime" is an official currency unit in the Federal monetary system, just like "dollar" and "cent" are. The word comes from the French ''disme'', meaning tenth -- it's one-tenth of a dollar, or ten cents. Until 1965, dimes were composed of 90% silver, which is why they are smaller than nickels and pennies and have grooves in their edges, to prevent anyone from shaving metal off. The dime has had UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt's profile on the front since 1946, a year after he died, and a tails-side design derived from the Roosevelt family coat-of-arms; the design prior to that was inaccurately known as the "Mercury dime", because the winged Phrygian cap worn by a young representation of Liberty resembled the hat worn by the Roman god of commerce. The current design has FDR because as President he created the March of Dimes, a charity organization where people would donate dimes to help support polio research and give money to families whose children had polio.[[note]]After polio was essentially eradicated by a vaccine developed in 1955 the MoD switched their focus to the prevention and treatment of various birth defects, the organization is still active to this day.[[/note]] Roosevelt famously lost the use of his legs to the disease when he was 39.

'''Dimes:''' Officially called the dime. That's right. "Dime" is an official currency unit in the Federal monetary system, just like "dollar" and "cent" are. The word comes from the French ''disme'', meaning tenth -- it's one-tenth of a dollar, or ten cents. Until 1965, dimes were composed of 90% silver, which is why they are smaller than nickels and pennies and have grooves in their edges, to prevent anyone from shaving metal off. The dime has had UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt's profile on the front since 1946, a year after he died, and a tails-side design derived from the Roosevelt family coat-of-arms; the design prior to that was inaccurately known as the "Mercury dime", because the winged Phrygian cap worn by a young representation of Liberty resembled the hat worn by the Roman god of commerce. The current design has FDR because as President he created the March of Dimes, a charity organization where people would donate dimes to help support polio research and give money to families whose children had polio. Roosevelt famously lost the use of his legs to the disease when he was 39.

* ¢: Cents. Appears ''after'' the number. Used instead of, not in addition to, the dollar sign, and only if an integer number of cents are specified (rather than a decimal value of dollars). Almost ''never'' used these days, as (thanks to inflation) most goods worth buying cost more than a dollar. Even as early as the 1960s, when computer character sets were becoming standardized, the ASCII character set contained a cents sign (though the rival EBCDIC character set did have one in its US code page) and the shift of 6, which was the cent sign on typewriter keyboards, instead became the caret (^) on American computer keyboards. The cent sign can be typed in [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows]] by holding Alt and typing 0162 (or 155) on the number pad, with Alt-Shift-C on the U.S. International or Canadian Multilingual layouts, or with [=AltGr=]-4 on the Canadian French layout; for UsefulNotes/MacOS, it's Option-4 or Option-Shift-4 depending on layout.

* ¢: Cents. Appears ''after'' the number. Used instead of, not in addition to, the dollar sign, and only if an integer number of cents are specified (rather than a decimal value of dollars). Almost ''never'' used these days, as (thanks to inflation) most goods worth buying cost more than a dollar. Even as early as the 1960s, when computer character sets were becoming standardized, neither the ASCII nor the EBCDIC character set contained a cents sign and the shift of 6, which was the cent sign on typewriter keyboards, instead became the caret (^) on American computer keyboards. The cent sign can be typed in [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows]] by holding Alt and typing 0162 (or 155) on the number pad, with Alt-Shift-C on the U.S. International or Canadian Multilingual layouts, or with [=AltGr=]-4 on the Canadian French layout; for UsefulNotes/MacOS, it's Option-4 or Option-Shift-4 depending on layout.

Since UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the U.S. dollar has been the world's reserve currency. This means that the currencies of other nations tend to fix their value in relation to the dollar. This developed out of the Bretton Woods System--after World War II, all the European economies were shot to hell, and Western Europe collectively decided that for the sake of economic stability, they would all peg their currencies to the dollar, and the dollar would be on the gold standard (i.e., pegged to gold). Eastern Europe didn't participate, having non-convertible currencies anyway (for various reasons). The dollar went off the gold standard in 1971 after changes in the world economy made this system untenable, and European currencies gradually decided to float afterward.

* 100 dollars (Creator/BenjaminFranklin). The highest denomination now in circulation. Remained green the longest out of all the denominations higher than 2 dollars, but the current issue has a teal-blue edge that becomes white in the center. It's all about the Benjamins, baby. Or the Benjis. Or the Franklins. Or the C-notes.