Copied from the Texas Civilian Yahoo list. Posted in October 2007 by Vicki Betts.
There's a problem with 1860 bank currency in Texas, namely the banks. This is from the online Handbook of Texas, the article on Banks and Banking:
The state Constitution of 1845 prohibited the incorporation of banks and the private issuance of paper money. Merchants increasingly performed limited banking functions, as commission merchants, factors, insurance agents, and bankers. Financial agents flourished first in Galveston, but other agencies opened offices as agricultural development spread to the interior. In time, moneylenders could be found in most towns and many villages; in 1859 they numbered more than 3,000, with loans in excess of $3 million.
The Commerce and Agricultural Bank opened in 1847 in Galveston, and was the only chartered bank in Texas before the Civil War. Both the republic and the state of Texas recognized its Mexican charter (1835), but the investors had difficulty raising the $100,000 in specie required to operate. The bank could establish branches, but a branch at Brownsville was the only one opened. The bank issued notes, underwritten by deposit currency, and engaged in various types of lending. It catered to customers in the mercantile business, but also provided exchange and other financial services to the public. After a decade of activity, an adverse state court decision prohibited the bank from issuing circulating notes, and it closed in 1859.
The constitutions of 1861 and 1866 prohibited state chartered banks
That's one reason the Louisiana notes look interesting. I think I have an exchange rate table in one of my newspaper files. I'll see if I can dig it out. It may be this afternoon before I get a chance, though.
There's a problem with 1860 bank currency in Texas, namely the banks. This is from the online Handbook of Texas, the article on Banks and Banking:
The state Constitution of 1845 prohibited the incorporation of banks and the private issuance of paper money. Merchants increasingly performed limited banking functions, as commission merchants, factors, insurance agents, and bankers. Financial agents flourished first in Galveston, but other agencies opened offices as agricultural development spread to the interior. In time, moneylenders could be found in most towns and many villages; in 1859 they numbered more than 3,000, with loans in excess of $3 million.
The Commerce and Agricultural Bank opened in 1847 in Galveston, and was the only chartered bank in Texas before the Civil War. Both the republic and the state of Texas recognized its Mexican charter (1835), but the investors had difficulty raising the $100,000 in specie required to operate. The bank could establish branches, but a branch at Brownsville was the only one opened. The bank issued notes, underwritten by deposit currency, and engaged in various types of lending. It catered to customers in the mercantile business, but also provided exchange and other financial services to the public. After a decade of activity, an adverse state court decision prohibited the bank from issuing circulating notes, and it closed in 1859.
The constitutions of 1861 and 1866 prohibited state chartered banks
That's one reason the Louisiana notes look interesting. I think I have an exchange rate table in one of my newspaper files. I'll see if I can dig it out. It may be this afternoon before I get a chance, though.
