When the French Revolution began in 1789, France was nearly bankrupt. Panicked legislators pushed to print paper money, but ...

In between his many accomplishments—inventing the lightning rod, founding the University of Pennsylvania, drafting the Declaration of Independence—Benjamin Franklin also devised innovative and secure ...

For more than 125 years, the United States had a gold-coin, silver-coin monetary system. No, it was not a paper-money system ...

A new study merges physics with archival documents to figure out how the Founding Father’s printing network made distinct paper currency. By Laura Baisas Published Jul 18, 2023 2:00 PM EDT Get the ...

Long before there were Benjamins in circulation, the founding father was all about experimenting with printing techniques as he worked on securing colonial printed currency. By Veronique Greenwood ...

Though perhaps better known for its newspapers and almanacs, Benjamin Franklin’s printing business also churned out paper money to support the colonial economy. Now, scientists are confirming some of ...

When Franklin Roosevelt told his economic advisers he was about to take the U.S. off the gold standard, they freaked out. The President was leading the country into “uncontrolled inflation and ...

Early in the Civil War, a New York congressman named Elbridge Spaulding had a terrible thought. What if the government were to print pieces of paper and call them money? Paper bills existed, of course ...