# "Mayberry Goes Bankrupt" - legally accurate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 26, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayberry-goes-bankrupt-legally-accurate/674860 "2013-11-26T21:19:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayberry-goes-bankrupt-legally-accurate/674860/21 "2013-11-27T17:46:23Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Does the limitations issue exist without it being written into the bond? It just ‘exists’? There’s a standard limitation on how long a bond can be held without redeeming it? I thought statutes of limitations on debt only applied when the debt was in _default_. I.e. you could hold a promissory note for as long as you wanted pursuant to the terms of the note, but if you demanded payment in 1990, you had until 1997 to actually collect the money or sue or else it became uncollectible. A note that is payable “on demand” is not in default until you actually _demand payment_ and the debtor fails or refuses to pay. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayberry-goes-bankrupt-legally-accurate/674860/22 "2013-11-27T17:48:21Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > One thing about Confederate money is that a huge quantity of it was printed in Philadelphia by an entrepeneur who sold it as a “novelty.” He used slightly oversized paper that had a phrase like, “this is a novelty, not real money” along the bottom edge. If you trimmed that off, the bills were the right size. This was one of the things driving the CSA money downhill and was therefore OK with the US government. For those interested: [Samuel C. Upham - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_C._Upham) ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayberry-goes-bankrupt-legally-accurate/674860/23 "2013-11-27T17:48:41Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Just want to add that a good book for some of the antebellum banking situations is _A Nation of Counterfeiters_ by Stephen Mihm 2007. Really good at showing just how difficult personal finances could be at that time regarding money. > > > [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > > > IOKIACDI. 🙂 > > ?? It’s OK if a Confederate does it. And thanks for the book recommendation. I’ll hunt it down. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayberry-goes-bankrupt-legally-accurate/674860/24 "2013-11-27T20:28:48Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Wild. The implicit consequence is that confederate dollars and union dollars are are at a 1:1 exchange rate, in theory. Define a “union dollar” or a “confederate dollar”. Were they gold coins? Yep, those traded at 1:1–they had the same amount of gold. (The Confederacy minted damn few of them, but [not zero](http://www.pcgs.com/News/1861-d-Gold-Dollar-Produced-By-The-Confederate-States-Of). Were they pieces of paper printed by the USA or CSA government? Neither traded at par with gold, or with each other. Would they ever? Well, both governments promised that their notes would _eventually_ be redeemable for gold, at the prewar rate of 23.2 grains per dollar. The USA eventually kept that promise, in 1879. The CSA obviously didn’t. As the war dragged on, it became clear that _even if the CSA won_ there were so many outstanding notes that they would be unlikely _ever_ to redeem them at the statutory rate. They would have to devalue. Then, the US$ and CSA$ would have been defined differently, in terms of gold and/or silver. But, that would have been a decision for after the war. Were your “Union dollars” or “Confederate dollars” private bank notes? Well, then they weren’t really Union dollars or Confderate dollars at all–they were just bank notes. Their value depended on public confidence in the issuing bank, which in turn varied with proximity to the bank, the amount and nature of reserves the bank had on hand, and the amount of note issue by the bank. Try to wrap yourself around the mindset of that era–even within a country, different things called “money” with a face value of $1 could have wildly different purchasing power. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayberry-goes-bankrupt-legally-accurate/674860.md?page=1)