Essay on United States Dollar and Coins

Submitted By mariam1843020
Words: 658
Pages: 3
Open Document
U.S. Currency
Currency, or money, is important in most cultures. People in the United States use two main kinds of currency. One kind is the dollar bill, or paper money. The other kind is the coin, or money made of metal. Dollar bills and coins are made in different places. All currency has special words and pictures on it. People use currency every day in the United States.
Kinds of Currency
Currency may be dollar bills or coins. Dollar bills are made of paper. Dollar bills have words and pictures on them. Coins are made of metal. They also have words and pictures on them. Coins may be copper ,silver, or gold.
There are many different kinds of dollar bills. Each is worth a different amount of money. Each bill has a number on it. That number tells how much money the bill is worth. Bills can be worth $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1,000, $5,000, or $10,000. People often use bills when they need a lot of money. They may use dollars to buy food, clothes, or a car.
People may use coins when they do not need much money. Each coin is worth a certain number of cents. A cent is an amount of money. Most coins are worth less than one dollar. One hundred cents is worth one dollar.
There are 1-cent, 5-cent, 10-cent, 25-cent, and 50-cent coins. There are also coins worth one dollar. Each coin looks different. This helps people tell them apart. Coins also have their own names. The 1-cent coin is called a penny. The 5-cent coin is called a nickel. The 10-cent coin is a dime. The 25-cent coin is a quarter. The 50-cent coin is a half dollar.
Words, Numbers, and Pictures
Dollars and coins have words, numbers, and pictures on them. All of these marks have special meanings. All dollars and coins tell how much money they are worth. They also show the year when they were made. They say they were made in the United States of America.
Dollars and coins may also have words that are important to Americans. Some currency says "In God We Trust." This shows that many Americans have ideas about faith. Other currency says "E Pluribus Unum." This means "Out of Many, One," or that Americans work together. Some coins say "Liberty," which means that American people are free.
Coins and dollars also have pictures of people on them. Most of these people were presidents, or leaders, of the United States. Presidents are on $1, $2, $5, $20, and $50 bills. These presidents are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, and Ulysses S. Grant.
Other important Americans are on coins. Some of these people are Benjamin Franklin,
Show More

Related Documents: Essay on United States Dollar and Coins

Penny Essay

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States of America. His face is on the coin used to represent one cent, the penny. Lately that has been quite a bit of debate of the penny's place in America. The penny has every right to stay in the United States. It deserves to be in it's rightful place next to the coins with the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt on them. Just like squats, pennies add up over time. Many people are willing to give up their…

Words 510 - Pages 3

Currency in the Free Market Essay

In most cases, a central bank has a monopoly right to issue of coins and banknotes (fiat money) for its own area of circulation (a country or group of countries); it regulates the production of currency by banks (credit) through monetary policy. An exchange rate is the price at which two currencies can be exchanged against each other. This is used for trade between the two currency zones. Exchange rates can be classified as either floating or fixed. In the former, day-to-day movements in exchange…

Words 453 - Pages 2

Arguments Against The Penny

Pennies “A penny for your thoughts…”(“A Penny Saved is a Penny” K7469): should one-cent currency stay in the United States? Though lobbying against the penny has been occurring for years, legislation was formally presented to Congress fairly recently. Proposed in 2006, the Currency Overhaul for an Industrious Nation (COIN) Act would require sellers to round down to the nearest nickel for “sums ending in 1,2,6, or 7 cents” and up for “sums ending in 3,4,8, or 9 cents” (“Eliminating the Penny Debated…

Words 647 - Pages 3

Gold and north Carolina Essay

American History I chose to discuss Christopher Bechtler for the topic of my paper because he was a person of many talents and I can show the different aspects of Christopher Bechtler and his family, Christopher sailed to the United States in 1829 from Le Havre, France, he soon after arrived in New York City with his two son’s Augustus, Charles and brought along his nephew Carl Bechtler. Christopher Sr. soon opened up a small Jewelry shop in Philadelphia, Bechtler intended to stay and make…

Words 2316 - Pages 10

The First Paper Money In The United States

the early days of the nation, before and just after the revolution, Americans used English, Spanish, and French money. 1690 Colonial Notes The Massachusetts Bay Colony issued the first paper money in the colonies which would later form the United States. 1775 Continental Currency American colonists issued paper currency for the Continental Congress to finance the Revolutionary War. The notes were backed by the "anticipation" of tax revenues. Without solid backing and easily counterfeited,…

Words 683 - Pages 3

One Dollar Notes Before 1963

One-Dollar Notes Before 1963 The 1963 series of Federal Reserve $1 bills is significant for two reasons. It was the first time that the Federal Reserve issued $1 notes, though the central bank had been issuing other denominations for many years before that. Also, the 1963B series note, also called the Joseph Barr Note, is well known among collectors of banknotes, and some examples sell at a premium over face value. Between 1928 and 1963, the small-sized (6.14 --- 2.61 inches) dollar bills that…

Words 422 - Pages 2

How Did Money Affect Colonial America

redeemable restrictions on them. The things colonists distributed would be exchanged in return for things holding similar value. This new arrangement seemed manageable for the British, but that was not the case for the colonists. Colonists preferred to use coins to pay for their goods in order to gain more independence over the immense power they occupied. The Currency Act of 1764 built a new standard for money that stated paper money was not redeemable in the colonies. The British anticipated to use this…

Words 1140 - Pages 5

Susan B Anthony Admirable Qualities

a circulating United States coin. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the Susan B. Anthony Dollar Coin Act into law (Public Law 95-447). This law amended the Coinage Act of 1965, changing the size, weight, and design of the one-dollar coin. This tells me that she was honored by changing the lives of all women when she gave them the right to vote. Another example of her pivotal movements are on www.susanbanthonyhouse.com it says In 1997, Congress passed the United States $1 Coin Act (Public Law…

Words 861 - Pages 4

The war Essay examples

rfcdr- fftttttttf From today's featured article The Kennedy half dollar is a fifty cent coin issued by the U.S. Mint. Intended as a memorial to the assassinated President John F. Kennedy, it was authorized by Congress just over a month after his death. Use of existing works by Mint sculptors Gilroy Roberts and Frank Gasparro allowed dies to be prepared quickly, and striking of the new coins began in January 1964. The coins vanished from circulation upon their release in March 1964 due to collectors…

Words 586 - Pages 3

Essay Gold Standard

Name: Derek Worley Date: 3/8/13 Block: 3 Course: English IV FIAT Money and the Gold Standard During the 19th century, the United States was based on the gold standard. For a definition, the gold standard was the idea that our currency was back by gold. The issue is that it was switched during the early 20th century and we were placed on a monetary system backed only by trust. The economic status of our country shifted after the US government switched from the gold standard to what we now call “Fiat…

Words 2117 - Pages 9