nays 22. The amendments proposed
by the finance committee were agreed to substantially as reported
by the committee. The bill finally passed by a vote of yeas 30,
nays 7. The House agreed to the amendment providing for the payment
of the interest on bonds and notes in coin, and disagreed to the
remaining amendments, and these were referred to a committee of
conference, composed of Messrs. Fessenden, Sherman and Carlisle,
of West Virginia, of the Senate and Messrs. Stevens, Horton, and
Sedgwick, of the House. The conference met, and, after two or
three days of full discussion, the material parts of the disagreements
between the two Houses were settled. The provision that coin only
be received for duties on imports, and that it be held as a fund
to pay the interest on the bonded debt, was retained. The report
of the conference was agreed to by both Houses, and on the same
day the bill was approved by the President. Thus, the legal tender
act, after a most able and determined opposition, became a law on
the 25th of February, 1862.

It would be difficult to measure the beneficial results that rapidly
followed the passage of this bill. The public credit was greatly
strengthened by the provision for the payment of interest in coin
furnished by duties on imported goods. The legal tender clause
was acquiesced in by all classes, and we had, for the first time,
in circulation national paper money as the actual standard of value.
It was silent as to time of its payment, but each note contained
a promise of the United States to pay a specific sum, and the
implied obligation was to pay in coin as soon as practicable.

On the 11th of July, 1862, a further issue of $150,000,000 United
States treasury notes (or "greenbacks," as they were commonly called
from their color) of the same description was authorized, and
subsequent issues increased the total amount to $450,000,000, the
extreme limit. By the act of March 31, 1863, fractional currency
was authorized to an amount not exceeding $50,000,000, to take the
place of fractional silver coins, which had entirely disappeared
from circulation, and this amount was issued.

The passage of the legal tender act was the turning point of our
physical and financial history. Less than a year before the
government was bankrupt; our bonds bearing six per cent. interest
were sold at a discount; our national expenditures exceeded our
receipts; loans could only be made upon the basis of